There is a familiar Irish revolutionary song titled, “It’s Off to Dublin in the Green, in the Green.” Until recently, any story about the Irish economy could be titled, “It’s Off to Dublin in the Red, in the Red.”
Not anymore. The Irish economy is so robust that the Irish refer to their country as the “Celtic Tiger” – after the former five Asian tigers, now economic kittens.
The whole country looks as though it had a fresh coat of paint. Shops are full of merchandise and customers. Construction is evident on city outskirts.
The sad truth is that much of what made Ireland quaint and attractive to tourists-the narrow little country roads, the tiny, rockbound fields, and the donkey carts were symptoms of the poverty that resulted from a small island country unable to build an industrial base with its limited market.
That’s in the past. Today, Ireland has become a center for electronics, software and telemarketing. Companies like Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, American Airlines, Motorola and the Texas-based Compaq and Dell have located in Ireland and are creating jobs there. One study estimates that jobs in software will grow from 15,000 now to 25,000 by the end of 1999.
The high-tech companies are running “help wanted” ads aimed at Irish people with computer skills who have immigrated to the United States. There are now something like 50 call centers in Ireland, doing telemarketing all over Europe.
Compaq, which operates a customer service center in Dublin, is recruiting people who speak Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Finnish, and the Scandinavian languages. Dell is looking for marketers and telephone technical support personnel for its Sales and Support Center in Bray and its computer manufacturing facility in Limerick. Motorola, with its European Software Development and Support Center located in Cork, is looking for people with degrees in computer and electronic science.
The salaries being offered are comparable with the US salaries, but taxes and living costs are higher in Ireland than here.
There are two reasons for the Irish boom: Ireland’s fine system of education and generous aid from the European Union. As the best-selling memoir, “Angela’s Ashes” illustrates, Ireland did a good job of educating its citizens even when they were destitute and miserable. Many of them took that education overseas and used it to great advantage. Now, the high rate of literacy and numeracy has created the kind of workforce technical companies need.
Institutions of higher education like the innovative University of Limerick contribute by creating curricula that produce the technically skilled people the computer manufacturers need. As for the European Union, it has done for most of Europe what was envisioned: create a large market for the products produced so that industry can grow and people prosper.
But for poorer nations such as Ireland, the benefits are even more tangible.
European aid is work everywhere, building roads and other infrastructure, supporting farm production and jumpstarting economic activity.
Blue signs with the constellation of the EU identify projects chosen for assistance, and they vary from uncovering Romanesque frescos in Cormac’s Chapel at the Rock of Cashel to rebuilding an 1840’s telescope at Birr Castle.
The telescope project is fascinating. Originally constructed by the Scientifically inclined Third Earl of Rosse, it is six feet in diameter, the largest in the world until 1917. It is fitted with intricate pulleys and weights that enable it to move vertically. The telescope was reconstructed from photographs taken by Mary, Countess of Rosse in 1862.
When the Historic Science Center project at Birr is complete, it will celebrate some of the scientific achievements of a country much better known for music, dance and literature.
From farm gates to four-lane highways, European aid is changing the Irish countryside, and creating an economic success story.
