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Article: Celtic tiger bounding ahead
- Article from:
- The Nelson Mail
- Article date:
- November 8, 2000
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Nelson Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The Irish beast called ``the Celtic tiger'' is frequently held up
as the example we, in New Zealand, should be following to reach
economic prosperity and growth.
The joke is not lost on the Irish whose long, and even recent,
history is a solid tale of poverty and struggle.
On my last visit in 1991, unemployment was at 19 percent, growth
was never mentioned, the economy discussed with resignation.
Ireland, ever the exporter of its people, accepted its lot with a
wry shrug.
So what is it like to revisit the land of the leprechaun and
lugubrious homesick ballad now that growth is running at 8 percent a
year and unemployment sits at 4.5 percent and falling?
The most obvious change was the ...