Being born in 1993 may not prove to be one of that crops better moves if the latest batch of figures from the Central Statistics Office are to be believed. Not only will they be coming on stream into the jobs market in 2011 at a time when the labour force is expected to be reach two million, up substantially from 1.62 million in 1998; they will also be reaching their prime 20 years later at a time when the number of pensioners in the Republic will have doubled from the figure for 1996, putting more pressure on those in work and on raising revenue through taxes.

Of course, all this only serves to illustrate the importance of the move by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, last week to set aside the bulk of the revenue from the sale of the Government's 50 per cent stake in Telecom Eireann to help meet the bills for pensions in the years ahead.