The perception of Ireland abroad has changed drastically in the last 5 years. Failed banks that had to be nationalised made the news headlines worldwide.
Why was Irish banking system collapse so interesting?
In 2008 Ireland was the 4th most stable country in the world. There have been the bank collapses and financial crisis in most of the world economies then. What make Ireland so popular is that we have been seen as the most stabile country that was hit by the crisis.
The downwind spiral of the Irish economy continued ever since 2009. With no signs of it slowing down. This made what is happening in Ireland newsworthy for the last 5 years. 5 years of the constant bad press internationally. Every politician in the world could always say that they are not doing that bad compared to,… elm,.. Irish. Sure we have some room to improve, but look at what happened to the Irish!?
Year after year, Ireland is worse off lately. And that is a fact, and that doesn’t sound well. But…
[blockquote2]When you put it in the right perspective, and compare the absolute and relative figures, the outcome is that Ireland is still one of the coolest places on the planet![/blockquote2]
What recession effectively did for Ireland is that it pushed us from a 4th to the 9th most stable country on the globe. Who exactly is above us? Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Iceland and then Ireland.
And if you look at what companies have opened their European and EMEA HQ’s here in the same period, you are looking at: Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Groupon, just to name the few. In fact we seem to get one of those coming to Ireland every month. Joining the ranks of the Microsoft, Oracle, Intel and other well established FORTUNE 500 companies here, each employing thousands of staff.
[list type=”tick”]
[list_item]Ireland in 2012 was the third fastest growing economy in EURO[/list_item]
[list_item]Ireland exports 16% more than before the crisis[/list_item]
[list_item]Ireland has highest foreign investment per capita in Europe[/list_item]
[list_item]Ireland is 2nd largest exporter of software in the world[/list_item]
[list_item]8th largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the world[/list_item]
[list_item]Highest proportion of people working in high tech industries in Europe[/list_item]
[/list]
That is why I <heart> Ireland!
While the sentiments, data and facts in your article are welcome, my goodness the quality of the English used in the article leaves a lot to be desired – could you not have edited it prior to publication?
That said, thank you for the article.
@Vincent Cheers for the comment. You are quite right! Got it all fixed (hopefully!)