After a few days in Ireland promoting my book 'An Irish Voice,' I am winging my way back to the U.S. with some fresh perspectives on the country.
The first is that the end of the Celtic Tiger may not be all-bad, despite what most newspapers proclaim.
There is a deep sense of crisis in the country, of course, but also some real and honest discussions taking place as to why the Tiger died and where the country needs to go next.
Tough decisions have to be made, but I believe there is a determination to face up to the harsh truths that will see the country through the worst of this vicious recession.
This ability to face adversity is an Irish trait honed through the centuries. A few years back, many Irish I talked to thought the country walked on water and that hard times were gone forever. The new reality has exposed that fiction – and many of the people who pushed it the hardest.
Like the self styled expert in America who claimed the Dow Jones would triple in value shortly before it crashed, the false prophets have fallen hard.
The death of the Tiger has exposed many of the self styled elite to well deserved ridicule when the reality of how they were actually making their money has been revealed. Loans to cronies, real estate sweetheart deals, stock speculation has all come to light – and about time
Bernie Madoff has nothing on some of those shysters.
There is a new realism around too. For too long some of the high flyers were celebrated like ancient Gods, with every pronouncement listened to with great awe. The emperors had no clothes and they have finally been found out.
The fall to earth of such people is better for the country. They added nothing but flim flam.
The second is that the Irish people are finally having an honest conversation with themselves. There is now a focus on the important discussions in Irish life.
It is no longer a game of your house is less expensive than mine and look at my holiday villa, but a real root and branch review of what is important in Irish life.
There is a hankering for a simpler life, for things to cost what they should, not what someone can get away with, for job creation based on merit not on jobs for the boys, for honest politicians who tell the truth and banks who consider fairness not old friends as the criteria for lending.
A lot has happened in Ireland since the Tiger crashed, but despite the tough times, the cutbacks and the shortages, the spirit of the Irish endures.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Liamkeyes | Aug 29, 2010, 09:44 AM EDT
I'm waiting for the Bankers and all the white collared type to be busted and punished to the full extent of the law. The Bankers were playing the Fiddle while the whole economy collapsed under them. They doth protest too much.
kevinhayes | Aug 27, 2010, 11:28 PM EDT
@jflanagan - dude, correction - it was your GOP that bailed out Wall Street in the fall of 2008. Remember, TARP,George W. Bush and Hank Paulson? Let's not have this Faux News re-write of history slipping in here, please. And recall also where the deficit culture came from - as Dick Cheney said to Paul O'Neill - "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter". We're still recovering from that mentality here.
JamesMurphy | Aug 27, 2010, 05:39 PM EDT
While the once powerful Celtic Tiger is now no more than a purring pussy cat, there is little chance it is going to slide into the sea, as many doomsayers seem to infer. The ould place has been here many a time before and will, as before, emerge stronger for it. As for worrying about immigrants besieging the country, this is a misguided argument and wholly wrong. Many of the Poles, for example, who arrived to help fill an employees shortfall have shoved aside their pints of stout and announced "Do Widzenia!" We live in a global world and, therefore, should not fret over the arrival of people from elsewhere. Immigration isn't the problem in Ireland; sound economic policy is.
GeorgeDillon | Aug 27, 2010, 02:55 PM EDT
The problem is that the Irish are left with one permanent legacy of the Celtic Tiger years. I'm talking about the fact that the demographic make-up of the country is irrevocably changed. 20%, maybe more, of the people living in the 26 Counties are not Irish. This is a pathologically high figure, higher than the Plantations of the 17th century which are still posing unresolved problems. It's as if the USA had accepted 70 million immigrants in less than a decade. And, to make the demnographic change even more violent, note that the huge numbers of foreigners are not distributed over all age groups, like the Irish population is. The immigrants are concentrated in the 20-40 age group--guess what, the age that makes most babies! Hence it's probable that one baby out of every four born in Ireland is not ethnically Irish. This is expeceted to continue, till within a couple of decades the Irish will be an ethnic minority in their own ancient homeland. What Cromwell and the English couldn't do, the Irish are doing to themselves. The days when we could talk about typical Irish names, or talk about someone as looking very "Irish", or of someone having an Irish sense of humor, those days are just about gone. The future of Ireland is unknowable--probably mostly bad--but one thing is sure. Ireland as the unique homeland of the Irish, the only such place on earth, is gone forever. What we will get in its place is some kind of multinational mass of people with no common history or culture, a country a bit like a giant airport terminal. You can already see the future in downtown Dublin, and it ain't pretty.
Searlit | Aug 27, 2010, 01:05 PM EDT
Like a breath of fresh air, coming in from Ireland. I can't wait to go back there, again!
Fatherpat | Aug 27, 2010, 11:43 AM EDT
"Bernie Madoff has nothing on some of those shysters." Really...now how many of those wanker banksters or toblerone slum housing developers got away with 60 billion plus which then was disappeared into a MOSSAD black hole for purposes too nefarious even to want to contemplate. There are still a lot of smooth talking hustlers in Ireland and even though the mangy Celtic tiger turned out to be more hungry hyena but never ever underestimate the NY mafia that screwed and hustled US taxpayers and got clean away with it AND THEY are still running this economy and the Fed! Now that's chutzpah, amigo!
Nearly Normal | Aug 27, 2010, 09:27 AM EDT
My 80-plus years-old Irish cousin reminds me that back in 2004 when I first met him in County Louth, he said that the Celtic Tiger was a paper tiger. He predicted that there would be problems down the road.
JimKelly | Aug 27, 2010, 09:08 AM EDT
I heartily agree with every observation and opinion from Niall. I rectenly returned from an extended stay around the country and find that "every day" folk acknowledge the difficulties and down turn in their financial future, however, the Irish spirit is alive and well.
Yerffac | Jul 28, 2010, 12:14 PM EDT
This is not the first time Ireland has had a boom and then a bust. Back in the late 70s they were blowing their money as if there were no tomorrow. I don't know when it all fell apart recently, but in 2007, the last time I visited my homeland, the cafes and pubs in Dublin were bursting at the seams every night of the week. All those beautiful people--where do they get the money, I wondered, and at Irish prices? But it's no different from here in America on the East Coast. Any night of the week I can go to downtown Stamford, Ct. and the good life seems in full swing, despite the very real recession. Sometimes I feel as if I am the only one who has to budget for a meal at a restaurant, or peruse the day (or two or three day) old produce shelf at the supermarket.
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Rachelgaffney | Mar 11, 2010, 11:32 PM EST
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy" as the great W B Yeats once said !!!! So very true.... Great article....some people dont like to hear the truth and some simply love to blame the Government !
momaloney | Mar 06, 2010, 12:02 AM EST
A for Niall Dowd....the perspective is right. From 1989 to 2001 I watched the changes taking place as we took trips during those years to see family and friends, plus getting to know the country we love. We know where are roots are and where we come from which is something not all "Irish" can say. We have not been able to return since 2001 as we retired and don't have the income we once had. We are hoping to return in September (after the tourist season) and hope that some of the prices have been adjusted, especially the air fares. I agree with Niall, prices must be adjusted to what they SHOULD be and not what the vendors want. Those days are gone. It is like that here in the US,but it will take longer for these ideas to finally take root. If the world would adopt Niall's thoughts, I think we would all be better off. Right now it is basically the rich and the poor. there is no more middle clase per se! Let's all pray that the power that be see the light and begin to make life more livable for all of us! Thank you. Momaloney Boston, MA
macausheen | Mar 05, 2010, 07:15 PM EST
The fall of the Tiger certainly has cured the immigration problem. The last time I was in Ireland I had to speak Polish to get my breakfast, Latvian at the hotel desk, and Serbian just to get a pint of Guiness! Hopefully they've all gone home now.
bostonculchie | Mar 05, 2010, 05:52 PM EST
CAnnot believe this article for its lameness. Cheerleading in the graveyard. That simpler life has not yet hit. Abject ruin is predictable among the wee folk, while the Government (both FF and FG) continues to collude with their cronies in Banking/Financial sector. As Forest Gump might say, "Sh** happened, and more is on the way." Thank God for Greece, as it keeps Ireland out of the spotlight. With current Government policy,its answer to the crisis, virtually all of its revenues will be used to pay of its international DEBT for decades to come. There will be NO inward investment in the Republic, as long as the currency remains in euros, where salaries and wages supersede those in the US! (The country has the highest paid police force in the world!) Property values could decline to 10& of peak values. Deflation will kill the economy Casual visitors to Ireland ought not be blinded by the mass state of DENIAL among the public. Next time look at the plane on which you are returning to the US. They're not Latinos, but those young Irish tourists, are also hoping for relief for undocumented/illegal aliens.
mhichil | Mar 05, 2010, 12:23 PM EST
The Tiger is now in China.. good luck with that! I really like the Celtic Salmon, but then I never metaphor I didn't like!
FastEddy | Mar 05, 2010, 10:35 AM EST
" There is a hankering for a simpler life, for things to cost what they should, not what someone can get away with, for job creation based on merit not on jobs for the boys, for honest politicians who tell the truth and banks who consider fairness ..." I like that. But could you possibly add the wish for a government that was able to create something besides grief?
jflanagan | Mar 05, 2010, 08:58 AM EST
Yes, Mr. O'Dowd and, contrary to what you and the other social engineer fans of big government think, it is by getting rid of "crony capitalism" pushed by big government that we have true competition and market based pricing. It is through big government telling mortgage companies they had to give loans to people who could not afford them, giving grants to favored contributors, bailing out the big wall street brokers and banks (how's that for a party that is for the common man, reward the billionaires at the expense of the rest) and make regulations so vast and cumbersome only the large banks and brokerages will be able to afford the staff to keep up with compliance. This will force community banks, small thrifts and credit unions out of business. Then see what prices you will pay for a loan and how little you will get on savings. Big government with its favored few is not the answer. True free market with anti trust is the answer.
PolinDeB | Mar 04, 2010, 10:28 PM EST
We're still trying to undo the damage to our heritage with Tara and the M3. Help us convince the Government to submit the Irish World Heritage Tentative list for St Patrick's Day. Join our facebook group and email the Minister...it's due in April, and the Minister envisions submitting it by then, we're trying to ensure that this vision becomes a reality. Link to Face Book group www.tinyurl.com/GreenIreland
PolinDeB | Mar 04, 2010, 10:23 PM EST
Living there in the demise of the Tiger, I never saw a country go happier into recession, people were fed up with the wankers who lost all politeness and friendliness during the Tiger ... we should have have the Celtic Salmon .. a smarter more Irish type of economy.
Textextex | Mar 04, 2010, 06:41 PM EST
If you thought Madoff ran a large scam, here's another example that has ripped off millions of people for several decades, to the tune of 10s of billions of dollars: Amway is a scam, and here's why: Amway pays out as little money as they can get away with, so they support the higher level IBOs ripping off their downline via the tool scam. As a result, about 99% of IBOs operate at a net loss, while the top 1% make several TIMES more from their Amway tool scam than from the Amway products. This was made illegal in the UK in 2008, but our FTC is unable to pull their heads out of their butts to stop it here. Read about it on my blog, I suggest you start here: http://tiny.cc/D5oJh and forward the information to everyone you know, so they don't get scammed.
IrishAndProud | Mar 04, 2010, 01:47 PM EST
Yeah -- it took the death of the Celtic Tiger to free the people of their distractions, but at least now more of them are looking at the things they should be, again.
irishwriter | Mar 04, 2010, 10:12 AM EST
Well said and very reassuring, Niall!
cormacmac | Mar 04, 2010, 09:24 AM EST
Well said.Totally true.The resilient spirit..and the craic.. are still about the place. In many ways the wake of the Celtic Tiger is kinda enjoyable!
Watchman | Mar 04, 2010, 09:20 AM EST
Good job, Niall! This is what people need to hear. I could hear the sound of nails being hit on the head with every sentence you wrote. Realism, and adjustment to reality: that's what we need on both sides of the Atlantic.