Volume 1 (1999/2000)
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Volume 2 (2000/2001)
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Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)

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The Celtic Tiger: Grinning or Baring

Elizabeth Geary
Abbey CC, Waterford

The elements of the Celtic Tiger: Hibernian yuppies, jobs, salaries, holidays, houses, Gucci on Grafton Street, two cars and two kids and a Finance Minister with a grin to rival a Cheshire cat. Yes indeed, Ireland's cup overflows!

Ireland has become a marvelous success and relatively quickly too - the devastating economic recession of the Eighties has been transformed into an era with an abundance of money and jobs. Who could have envisaged such change ten or twelve years ago, when emigration was a sad but certain fact of life? The tables have turned with more and more staff-craving Irish firms searching for personnel abroad, and pages and pages of broadsheet dedicated to job vacancies.

Nowadays, economists reassuringly tell us there are no 'poor' people in this country anymore. Everyone has a stripe on the Tiger, we are told, a foothold in the (green) commercial gem known as Ireland. Theories like this make ordinary folk subconsciously link the words, economist and alien. Many Irish people believe they haven't heard the Celtic Tiger roar and that only a select few have reaped its benefits (something the Government would rather have us not think). The advantages of the economic boom have not filtered down through the ranks of society. Those who are dependent on social welfare, for example, have seen little increase in their benefits despite the sizeable Budget surpluses of the past few years.

The minimum working wage of £4.40 per hour has only been implemented recently, even though the Celtic Tiger was already a healthy cub some time ago. Only now are workers getting the rewards for their efforts through an almost Dickensian Eighties. Yet with the price of oil rising (giving the global economy a bit of a sheik), these monetary (micro) bonuses pale into insignificance when compared with the increase in the cost of living. Inflation is around 5.4% and although it's not a direct result of the Celtic Tiger itself, it's the general view that commerce has taken advantage of the present good feeling about our nation and the economy. The cost of living has taken a hike of Himalayan proportions and the Consumer Price Index is rapidly increasing each quarter. Every trip to the supermarket brings a rise in expenditure and blood pressure. And as a result, everyone feels a little inflation is necessary in his/her pay packet too - leading to the new 'evil' of our time - the Strike. These can only be some of the huge disadvantages to our stripy economic metaphor for success: the under-belly of the Celtic Tiger.

Why was a tiger chosen to represent this economic miracle? Is it strength and steadiness or its Intelligence? Tigers aren't fully grown until two years after birth. The term was coined in the mid-Nineties to label the exciting growth spurt in our economy - has our Tiger reached full maturity? Is this as good as it gets? It seems that everyone who is extremely enthusiastic about the Celtic Tiger has forgotten an important fact, that cats are cunning and deceptive creatures.

The people of this country, especially the younger generation of homemakers, are laden down with substantial loans and huge mortgages. The frantic upward spiral of house prices has resulted in young couples taking out mortgages of incredible amounts. Despite the low interest rates, home-owners will be heading to the bank with walking canes as the final installment is paid. This is the sad fact that has affected people in my family, my area, and my country. If the bubble bursts and the Tiger is shot down by stock market collapse, the colossal increases in oil prices and/or other economic depressors, the people of this nation are financially doomed. Thus, if things do go wrong, those who decided to fulfil dreams by availing of low interest rates will live nightmares as they realise that they own nothing and owe everything.

Economists predict this 'boom' will last for perhaps another five years or so but are unsure how it will end. Most people of my acquaintance are pessimistic (they're Irish, after all) about the lifespan of the Tiger and place little faith in what the financial experts surmise - as G. B. Shaw once said that "if all the world's economists were laid end to end they wouldn't even reach a conclusion". Only time will tell if the nation can remain at this economic apex. For the moment, it may be a case of a select few benefiting from something that should bring joy and extra gains to everyone who has worked hard to put this country where it is today. Let us share the profits, in a realistic, sensible way. Let's create a top-class health service. Let's build Eircom Park. Let's educate one and all... Let's ask the Government.

The three main objectives in any economy are high growth, full employment and a reasonable distribution of income and wealth. Ireland's economy fulfils the first two but falls short of the mark as regards the latter one. And this is the way to measure the success of this country, by the positions held by and benefits to the ordinary people.

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