Could Ireland’s Celtic Tiger could be once purring again, the Wall Street Journal asks. It points out that last Thursday the Irish government announced that the economy experienced growth in the second quarter, showing the first promising signs of emerging from the recession.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) have reported that gross domestic product (GDP) in the three months leading to June was 1.6 percent higher than in the first quarter and which represents a 2.3 percent increase for the same period of 2010, leading the Wall Street Journal columnist Eamon Quinn to ask is: "the fabled export-focused Celtic Tiger of the Nineties purring again?”

The WSJ points out that Ireland’s export-focused economy is aiding the country’s recovery.
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“Some international commentators enthusiastically greeted the GDP numbers as proof the Irish were weathering their debt storm,” it reports.

However, in his blog Eamon Quinn points out that faced with new austerity plans, the Irish government still has a long way to come.

“It has to reduce a huge budget deficit to 8.6% of GDP in 2012 and will soon announce plans to take €3.6 billion more spending power out of the fragile domestic economy,” he reports.

Concluding Quinn says Ireland cannot rely on its export driven industries alone, considering they cannot supply high levels of employment.