Irish politics faces tough path

There are two key currents capable of undermining our recovery, says Gerard Howlin

IT REALLY depends on how old you are. The last time it happened was in the 1980s. I was a student then. The national joke was asking the last one leaving to please turn the lights off.

Gay Byrne, still holding off whippersnappers like Pat Kenny, ignited a rumpus by suggesting that we should hand the country back to the queen of England with a letter of apology for the state it was in. And the country was in a state. At its worst in 1988 about 70,000 young Irish people were emigrating. Of the 40 or so in my class only three or four stayed at home.