Long seen as the envy of the rest of Europe, if not the world, Ireland’s economy is facing some hard times in the coming months. The vaunted Celtic Tiger economy officially became the first country in the euro-zone to fall into recession, and economists are predicting a tough stretch ahead.
“We face stark choices. If we do not make the right ones, it will have catastrophic consequences,” Prime Minister Brian Cowen said at a dinner last month of the nation’s top businesspeople. Ireland recently authorized and emergency plan to insure the nation’s banks against collapse, guaranteeing savings for Irish banks.
Fueled in large part by the lowest business taxes in the euro zone at 12.5%, Ireland moved from one of the EU’s poorest members to its shining star. It drew many of the continent’s top graduates in software and IT as well as pharmaceuticals. American companies, in particular, invested heavily in the Emerald Isle in the hottest fields. Unfortunately, the downtown in the US hit the Irish economy first.
Ireland still has much to offer investors and overseas buyers, but it will probably be some time before the Celtic Tiger reappears.
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