The Irish Economic Crisis: The Expiry of a Development Model?

Abstract

This article studies the impact of the 2008 economic crisis on the Irish development model. The Republic of Ireland has developed its economy thanks to an FDI-led strategy. This strategy was very successful during the Celtic Tiger period in the 1990s and 2000s. Will the crisis put an end to Ireland's economic development? If Ireland manages to keep a low corporate tax rate, it appears that the country will be able to carry on with its development model. However, Ireland seems to have almost achieved its catching up with the EU core countries and it will be difficult to reach growth rates similar to those of the Celtic Tiger period.

Neoliberalna Temporalnost Ili Homo Economicus U Volatilnim Vremenima U Romanu Time Present and Time Past Deirdre Madden

“…austerity measures) dominira ekonomskopolitičkim obzorom Irske prebacujući teret odgovornosti na pojedinca (umjesto, kako bi bilo ispravno, na državu ili na međunarodne banke i korporacije). U posttigrovskoj Irskoj mjere ekonomskoga oporavka svoj su najradikalniji oblik dobile 2008. godine u odluci irske Vlade da nacionalizira posrnule banke (Boullet, 2015) te 2010. godine kada EU, ECB (Europska centralna banka) i MMF (Međunarodni monetarni fond) preuzimaju upravljanje nad irskim financijskim tržištem (Dellepiane Avellaneda i Hardiman, 2010).…”

A Paradigmatic Shift? Economic Crises and Labour Market Policies on the Eu’s (Semi-)Periphery

“…Ireland is a specific case when studying labour market policies. In 1987, a social partnership was created between trade unions and employer organisations, leading to a series of "partnership" agreements where the main consensus was that a strong pro-business approach was the correct one (Allen, 2001;D'Art and Turner, 2011;Ó Riain, 2014;Boullet, 2015). The basic element of all reforms agreed upon by the social partners was "strong voluntarism with minimal employment rights" (McDonough and Dundon, 2010: 544).…”

“…This steady rise in GDP and employment levels led to the proclamation of the rise of the Celtic Tiger (Allen, 2001;Ó Riain, 2014). The stable and high growth did not lead to wage pressures or more labour rights because large unemployment existed before this period of growth along with very low female employment, coupled with many Irish workers working overseas but willing to return to Ireland (Boullet, 2015). This neoliberalised corporatist system of social partnership collapsed when the crisis broke out in 2008 (Mercile and Murphy, 2015).…”