Irish Permanent shareholders must feel the good times will never end. Yet another set of record results yielded dividends that were 27 per cent up on last year and the markets have responded positively to the impending merger with Irish Life, marking up the shares of both groups and so further profiting investors.

In addition, the demand for housing just keeps rising and rising, great news for the largest mortgage lender in the State. Mortgage lending in the Republic soared 44 per cent for the group last year, contributing to a 21 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £67 million (#85.07 million). And all this in an environment where mortgage lending is accounting for less than three-quarters of the price of the average house in Dublin.