In Dublin, today’s elections already have a certain result: rage gave way to resignation. With all the consequences for who is in power. In particular for Fianna Fail, the party which has been at the helm of the Irish government since 1922.
What is the dark evil which changed the Celtic Tiger into a wet chick?
The answer is easily found in the only leitmotiv of the election campaign, that is how to control the restructuring of the public debt. A distressing atmosphere and a forced austerity fill the air of the rich, modern and dynamic city of Dublin. Light years away from the infectious enthusiasm of the past decade. When in 1994 the economist Kevin Gardiner coined the name “Celtic Tiger” the country was going through a period of economic growth at an extraordinary and enviable rate of 10% per year.
The sudden increase of jobs and the high competitiveness in attracting foreign investments changed this green land into a real economic paradise which peaked in the first decade of the 2000s.
The exceptionality of the Irish decade was also confirmed by the momentous reversal of trend of migration flows. Suddenly, Dublin became an El Dorado for the immigrants from many parts of Europe. A revolutionary phenomenon, to say the least of it, since the Irish had emigrated to seek fortune across the Atlantic for over 150 years. To an extent that, quoting The Economist, immigration was to Ireland as inflation is to Germany. In short, like for Berlin the price increase and the decrease of the purchasing power of the currency are just an exception, for Dublin immigration has been an almost unknown phenomenon for a long time. Yet, within the space of a few years everything changed. After the EU’s opening-up to the East, thousands of Polish citizens overflowed the island to look for a job and a new life. The enthusiasm of becoming the promised land for once in their history made the Irish extremely open and well-disposed towards the East European immigrants. Which was a clean break with the past.
In December 2010, when the European Union and the International Monetary Fund intervened heavily in the Irish economic policy, enthusiasm and pride suddenly disappeared. It was a blow for their dreams of glory. The brink of precipice, the risk of default, was the climax of the crisis for the tiger of Europe, whose rumblings started in 2006 with the bursting of the housing bubble. Surprisingly, the offer of houses exceeded the demand. The 2007 subprime crisis arrived immediately afterwards overwhelming the bank system of the island. To guarantee deposits and to save its own banks, the government donated huge sums. The result was that the emergency expenditure proved fatal for the already depleted state coffers.
Yet, not everything that was built during the decade of development got lost. Indeed, although unemployment and poverty will increase and thousands of young graduates will leave the country to find a job abroad, Ireland is placed on a firm footing which raise hopes for the future. The capacity to attract capital and the steady decrease of the cost per work unit remain unchanged. The price to pay is to give up the podium of the richest countries, as painlessly as possible. The Irish will have to look themselves in the mirror with a little more realism. The dream is over.
(Translation: Francesca Cannino)
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