Why Ireland is Booming.

Ireland is giving off the 'green'...Yeah, you like that corny one, but I'm talking greenbacks, son...Check this out.

I forgot to post this Op-Ed piece as well yesterday from Thomas Friedman's Op-Ed New York Times column on Tuesday afternoon. Entitiled "The End of the Rainbow", the piece explains how and why Ireland is doing an incredible job of economic development and how and why Ireland is one of the richer countries in the EU. Check out the article here.

Here's Friedman's free advice on how Ireland did it...

"Ireland's advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road - and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe."

Here's what Michael Dell has to say about Ireland in Friedman's piece...

"We set up in Ireland in 1990," Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer, explained to me via e-mail. "What attracted us? [A] well-educated work force - and good universities close by. [Also,] Ireland has an industrial and tax policy which is consistently very supportive of businesses, independent of which political party is in power. I believe this is because there are enough people who remember the very bad times to de-politicize economic development. [Ireland also has] very good transportation and logistics and a good location - easy to move products to major markets in Europe quickly."

Finally, added Mr. Dell, "they're competitive, want to succeed, hungry and know how to win. ... Our factory is in Limerick, but we also have several thousand sales and technical people outside of Dublin. The talent in Ireland has proven to be a wonderful resource for us. ... Fun fact: We are Ireland's largest exporter."

Good stuff, and I don't care what any Econ Dev expert has to say...It is nothing less than remarkable how far Ireland has come over the past two decades.

Dublin Someday?,
IronDog