Sir, - Musing recently on monetary matters and especially on their myriad effects on the human psyche, I feel that I have tagged along - perhaps too long - with the ad nauseam use of "Celtic Tiger" as a fitting figure for fiscal fecundity.
It seems to me that, as a result of diminishing developments attending what was an economic boom, the smile on the face of that fiercely energetic feline has been trans-mog-rified (catty, that!). Wherefore, its expression is more akin to the Cheshire Cat's sterile grin in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, or, indeed, is humanised in the form of the Mona Lisa's enigmatic and catatonic "one-never-knows-does-one" smile.
I fear, therefore, that the aforesaid boom, with the hidden hiccups haunting all such "ever-and-ever" prosperities (the boonless predicaments of those who fail, for some reason, to seize the boom's opportunities for enrichment -, homelessness, inflation, etc.) may very well boomerang eventually as far as sociological improvement is concerned.
In other words, while the "Celtic Tiger" may have been the "cat's pyjamas" for many, it may not have been, for some, exactly the "cat's whiskers" in a comprehensive remarkableness. Rather, one might see it as quite a felonious feline - currently limping, or, some would deem, extinct, fuelling (albeit unwittingly) false values and a tunnel vision approach to human worth, instead of promoting a healthy, fulfilling inner growth and a sense of perspective about the latter in relation to one's material possessions.
In this context, I am reminded of the Roman poet Horace's dictum: "Silver is worth less than gold, gold is worth less than virtue" ("Vilius argentum est auro, virtutibus aurum"). - Yours, etc.,
Father Pat Deighan, Beach Park, Laytown, Co Meath.