According to Oxford economic historian Kevin O'Rourke, Irish independence coupled with membership of the European Union have been crucial to Irish economic prosperity. Membership of the European single market reduced Irish dependence on the British economy and facilitated a modernization of the Irish economy.
There are many cited root causes of the Celtic Tiger: low corporate taxes, low wages, U.S. economic boom, foreign investment, stable national economy, adequate budget policies, EU membership, and EU subsidies.
The poorest of the rich
This brought no economic benefit: unemployment rose from 6.6% in 1971 to 17.6% in 1987. The economist Dermot McAleese wrote that “high taxes, low confidence, high labour costs, excessive regulation and anti-competitive practices” plagued the Irish economy in the 1980s.
At the start of the 1990s, Ireland was a relatively poor country by Western European standards, with high poverty, high unemployment, inflation, and low economic growth.
Potato Famine a Major Cause of Poverty
This was the cause of the Great Potato Famine that began in 1845. The famine was caused by the water mold disease known as late blight, which resulted in crop failure three years in a row. This drove families further into poverty.
According to economic historian Kevin O'Rourke, the Irish economy remained underdeveloped for extended periods of time after partition due to its continuing excessive dependence on an underperforming British economy.
The state of 18th Century Ireland Poverty can be partly attributed to the devastation caused in the mid-17th century by the armies of Oliver Cromwell. These armies burned land, crops and food stores in their wake, making farming in Ireland difficult, and in some areas, impossible.
The nineteenth century was, by any standards, a calamitous one for the language. According to the 1851 census the total number of Irish speakers had declined by then to just over one and a half million. By the end of the century, the number of Irish speakers had declined to 600,000.
The cost of living in Ireland can be slightly higher than that of the UK, largely due to taxes, rents, and goods being more expensive.
The post-ceasefire talks led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. This ended British rule in most of Ireland and, after a ten-month transitional period overseen by a provisional government, the Irish Free State was created as a self-governing Dominion on 6 December 1922.
Even after adjusting for the cost of living, Ireland's gross domestic product (GDP) per person was 134pc above the bloc's average, making Ireland the second-richest country, behind Luxembourg.
Ireland is therefore currently ranked 25 of the major economies. If this is calculated per inhabitant, taking purchasing power parity into account, then Ireland ranks 3rd in the list of the richest countries. Inflation in Ireland in 2022 was around 7.81%. Within the EU, the average in the same year was 9.22 percent.
It came courtesy of an expansion in manufacturing, which is dominated by big US multinationals in the life sciences sector, which have continued to trade strongly despite a slowing global economy.
Currently, the richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita is Luxembourg, with a GDP per capita of $135,700. Other wealthy countries include Bermuda, Ireland, and Switzerland, all with GDP per capita above $80,000.
Depending on how you look at it, Australians have it pretty good. The average Australian now has a net worth of more than US$550,000. Collectively, Australian households have a staggering $14 trillion in wealth and the number is steadily growing.
Global Tax Plans
While Ireland has been considered a tax haven by many for decades now, the global tax system that Ireland depends on to incentivize multinational corporations to move there is receiving an overhaul by a coalition of 130 nations.
Australia is 7.4% more expensive in comparison to Ireland.
4. Ireland. You might not expect Ireland to be in the top five most expensive countries, but it is. Here, while the cost of groceries is about 8% lower than the U.S. it has nearly 23% less purchasing power than the U.S.
Lack of natural resources. We have a major lack of natural resources in Ireland meaning a huge amount of what we eat, wear and use has to be imported from abroad. And as outlined above, our relatively isolated, island location means transporting things into the country is more expensive than other countries.
Between 1845 and 1855 more than 1.5 million adults and children left Ireland to seek refuge in America. Most were desperately poor, and many were suffering from starvation and disease. They left because disease had devastated Ireland's potato crops, leaving millions without food.
The decline of the Irish language was the result of two factors: the Great Irish Potato Famine and the repeal of Penal Laws. The Potato Famine led to a decline in the Irish-speaking population. The repeal of Penal Law made Catholics interested in learning English as a way to get ahead in life.
It is believed that Irish remained the majority tongue as late as 1800 but became a minority language during the 19th century. It is an important part of Irish nationalist identity, marking a cultural distance between Irish people and the English.
The landed proprietors in Ireland were held in Britain to have created the conditions that led to the famine. However, it was asserted that the British parliament since the Act of Union of 1800 was partly to blame.
DUBLIN — More than 170 years ago, the Choctaw Nation sent $170 to starving Irish families during the potato famine. A sculpture in County Cork commemorates the generosity of the tribe, itself poor. In recent decades, ties between Ireland and the Choctaws have grown.
After the English revolution brought Cromwell and his parliamentary forces to power, he sent armies to crush resistance in Ireland with extreme brutality. In whole areas, the Irish population was exterminated or forced to flee, and Scottish or English protestant colonies were established.