Banks - suddenly we're all scrutinising our statements (they really are becoming perpetual recipients of this award).

Michelle de Bruin whose favourite song, we are reliably informed, is not Whiskey in the Jar.

Father Ted fans as Dermot Morgan sadly departed to the great pulpit in the sky.

Brian Cowen who with the scandal at Tallaght, the nurses in Galway and the carers' row brought new meaning to the term annus horribilis.

Sun worshippers - Summer, what summer?

Farmers - Summer, what summer?

Meat factory owners/supermarkets/butchers - well, with those lower-than-ever mart prices, one or other of them is ripping us off.

British stag and hen partygoers who were banished from Temple Bar, missed only by fans of indiscriminate vomiting and food fights.

Elaine Moore, the Dublin woman charged with the possession of explosives and conspiracy, held in a London prison and then released.

The Angelus as the Virgin Mary is replaced by scenic photography while the bell tolls for the bongs.

The integrity of rank and file gardai as a bout of Blue Flu hit the force.

Sporting innocence with drugs scandals hitting Le Tour and Irish rugby and Flo-Jo dying too young.

Construction workers whose jobs continued to jeopardise their health and safety . . .

The Dublin Taxi-driver - Why should this year be any different?

The poor, the homeless, the drug addicts. Celtic Tiger, what Celtic Tiger?

First-time home buyers as house prices soar, like, er, a viagra patient and the practice of gazumping becomes uncomfortably commonplace.

Telecom Eireann which with deregulation explored a new concept - giving a fig about their customers.

The Government opposition whose major gripe on Budget day was that they had nothing to gripe about.

Mary Robinson the departure of a key staff member and a Tibetan controversy tarnished her golden-girl image.