The Celtic Tiger period Essays - Europe, Economic History Of Ireland

The Celtic Tiger period The Celtic Tiger was used as a symbol to describe the booming economy of Ireland specifically during the time period between 1997 and 2007 The Irish economy in the 1980's through the 1990's was steadily increasing , to become one of the world's most rapidly growing . (3) During this time of economic boom people from around the world began to move back to their ancestral roots in Ireland for employment . As unemployment went down from 20% in the late 1980's to 4% in 2007. ( 4) The Irish economy was at its peak during the period between 1997-2007; and was thus named the " Celtic Tiger ." Ireland moved from being one of the poorest countries in Europe to one of the richest in only a matter of years . (5) One of the main reasons Irelands ' economy grew so much was due to job creation . Having low tax rates , specifically in the corporate world , helped to attract many investors to Ireland . (5) Ireland also began to offer free higher education to EU citizens . (2) Which thus created many new job opportunities . In only of span of fifteen years (1990-2005) the employment rate in Ireland went from 1.1 million to 1.9 million . (5) Irelands ' trading market began to expanded internationally ; which attracted many people to Ireland for work . With more jobs and a growing economy , many Irish began to turn to development . After Ireland experience a wave of emigration , developers went so far as to began to build houses for what they hoped a second wave of immigrants to Ireland would buy . (9) In order to pay for these houses , developers used loans from Irish banks. Lending from banks for development rose from 5.5 billion euros in 1999; to 96.2 billion euros in 2007. HYPERLINK "https://www.mtholyoke.edu/falve22h/classweb/recession/recession/Sources.html" \o "Sources.html" (9) Developers , Irish banks , and the Irish government alike saw this as a huge opportunity for expanding the celtic tiger . At the end of 2006, instead of worrying about the amounting debt , Prime Minister Bertie Ahern stated , "The boom is getting boomier ." (9) reason of crash Ireland's successful economy was followed by a major increase in real estate and commercial development in the 2000's. (1) This increase in development was supported by thousands of loans with Irish banks. Some of the biggest banks involved with such loans were the Anglo Irish Bank, the Allied Irish Banks , and the Bank of Ireland . (2) To add fuel to the fire banks offered low interest rates , while the Irish government offered low corporate tax rates ; leading to even more loans and an even greater increase in development . (3) Construction made up 25% of Irelands GDP in 2006, and the construction industry employed nearly 20% of the workforce . (9) The major reliance on the construction industry put Ireland's economy in a very unbalanced position . When a recession hit in 2008, individuals and developers who had taken out loans from these banks found that they could not repay them . Leaving many of the Irish banks with overwhelming debts . (3) To add to this problem because of the recession , the prices of properties deflated causing even more debt . This debt caused many developers to have to abandon their projects , and now abandoned developments can be seen across Ireland . A photographer took pictures of these " ghost homes " and combined with a handful of architect came up with an interesting idea to do with them ; HYPERLINK "https://www.mtholyoke.edu/falve22h/classweb/recession/recession/Video/Video.html" \o "Video/Video.html" click to watch the video here. ( Under Bright Ideas for a Currently Dim Future ). credit rating