Born in 1996

The Celtic Tiger was in full flight. House prices were rising, unemployment was falling, and a new confidence was visible everywhere in Irish life. But there were shadows: crime was increasing in Dublin, the drugs crisis was real and devastating in working-class communities, and the tribunals investigating corruption were beginning to reveal how deeply compromised sections of the political establishment had been.

Veronica Guerin, the journalist who exposed the drug trade, was murdered in June — a national trauma.