There's a riposte for those begrudgers who claim our favoured isle can never be top of any league. A report out this week shows we are indeed capable of beating the rest of the world - if only on the rate at which house prices are rising.

The report from the Bank of International Settlements said house price inflation in the Republic, adjusted for inflation, has been higher than that in the world's leading economies between 1995 and 1999.

Bacon report or no Bacon report, it appears nothing can stop the inexorable rise of house prices in the State. Over the period under review, domestic property prices shot up 76 per cent, on average.

Of course, none of this is news to anyone who has been living in Ireland and looking for property in recent years. What is of more concern is whether we will not top another list - that for mortgage defaulters - with the price of borrowing increasing all the time.