Acknowledgements

I wish to express my deep gratitude to those who helped to bring about this publication. To Richard Stagg of Financial Times Prentice Hall, who originated the concept and carried it through. To my friends and colleagues: the late John O’Sullivan, who was an unequaled source of reference on even the most esoteric subjects, and John Dinan, who re-started the motor after a blow-out.

I am grateful to the staff of the Irish Management Institute Library and Dublin Central Library for their unstinted provision of all the financial data that I sought, including data from the Financial Times and Extel Financial Ltd, and to Geraldine McDonnell and Carol Fitzpatrick, who cheerfully coped with all the work of the section while the author was in seclusion.

Finally, I acknowledge the debt I owe to my fellow travellers: Tom Cullen; the late Des Hally; Diarmuid Moore; Martin Rafferty. They ploughed the first furrows and sowed the seed.