9 May 2012 Last updated at 11:14 ET By Shane Harrison BBC News

Do we need to laugh more during a recession?

It seems the people in the Republic do, with reports claiming satire there is making a comeback both in comedy clubs and on radio.

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It's fairly common now for people in the Republic meeting on a Saturday afternoon to ask each other whether they had heard the latest episode of Green Tea or its replacement on RTE Radio One, The Second Republic.

Jokes are remembered and sketches laughed at; nothing is sacred.

Green Tea in recent times has parodied the Ulster rugby fans' recent visit to the city with both a reporter and the fans - Billy, Ivan and Jeffrey - embarrassed that there was a Padraig in their midst.

Times are changing and not just in Ulster rugby; humour and satire have returned to the Irish air waves.

In the pilot show for The Second Republic the host, Neil Delamere, jokes about reporters annoying Martin McGuinness during his visit to the ploughing championships saying: "Personally, I wouldn't have annoyed any Sinn Feiner when he had that much access to fertiliser."

While comedy and satire are thriving now many have wondered why there was so little of either during the Celtic Tiger bubble years.

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Laughter best medicine for recession