oldlag53 your assertion that the "'Tiger Economy' is utter nonsense" based on living in Ireland for 2 years is about the most ignorant thing I have read on pprune for some time. Well done.
Had you lived in Ireland pre-boom days you would realise how completely stupid that remark is. The Republic's economy has gone from being technically rated part of the 2nd world (eg. Romania, India, etc) to first world in the last 15 years. I'm not going to bang on about the way things used to be, ask your Irish neighbours if you care to find out, but they were substantially worse in every way. Maybe you should find out a little about the history of the country you live in.