The Irish economic Boom

John Fitz Gerald (1)

1 The Economic and Social Research Institute

Ireland’s experience of independence in the 20th century has been eventful. Although its post-independence relationship with its former imperial power – Britain – was not always comfortable initially, it was certainly much easier than that of many other countries which achieved their independence around the same time, such as Finland and Estonia. Membership of the European Union (EU) has been the culminating act of Ireland’s economic independence, providing a legal framework within which it has the same rights (and responsibilities) as the United Kingdom (UK) and all its other EU neighbours. The benefits of such a protective legal regime has proved important for all small nations within the EU, helping to explain why Finland and Ireland, for example, have approached EU membership with somewhat greater enthusiasm than the UK or Sweden...

Keywords: Ireland; economics; European integration

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science; Humanities and Social Sciences; Economics and Finance

John Fitz Gerald. The Irish economic Boom. Les études du CERI, 1999, 56, pp.34. ⟨hal-03579357⟩