A Troubled St. Patrick’s Day In Ireland

Today St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over the world, but in Ireland itself the happiness is tempered by the fact these are troubled times. Ireland-based journalist Tish Durkin writes:

On this St. Patrick’s Day, the people of Ireland, North and South, can feel pride and relief that the recent murders of two unarmed British soldiers and a police officer by “Republican dissidents” have not only failed to revive “the Troubles,” but have reinforced the general commitment to peace. That’s especially fortunate right now, because the Irish certainly need to feel good about something. After almost twenty years of partying on the tab of the Celtic Tiger, the Irish economy does not have a mere hangover. It has whiplash—and that’s a special kind of pain.

Historically pitied as the slowest economy in Europe, Ireland surged ahead in the early 1990’s on a potent blend of low corporate taxes, strategic investment, and European Union subsidies. Now, all of a sudden, some god of comeuppance has slammed on the brakes, and the whole country can feel itself going through the windshield.

The major causes of this crash are as clear as Waterford crystal, the parent company of which is now in receivership. Number one is the global meltdown. But blameworthy, too, is Ireland’s own faith, embraced from the top of the leadership to the bottom of the economic ladder, that a fantastic property bubble would never burst. This led to wild over-reliance on the construction sector, the collapse of which is now all the more devastating. Economic growth having finally brought Christmas to Ireland’s coffers, the government took a Santa approach to spending, tossing large, unsustainable pay hikes to the public sector.

Read it in full.