Ireland: from boom to austerity

For the first 40 years as an independent state, Ireland faced many difficulties. Failing to provide sufficient employment opportunities, emigration and austerity were constant themes. During several decades of relative prosperity from the 1960s, foreign investment was encouraged and created new employment opportunities. A recession in the 1980s was followed by a remarkable period of prosperity from the mid-1990s. This was driven first by an export boom and later by an unsustainable housing bubble. Serious risk taking by property developers and lax lending practices by banks led to a banking crisis and a financial rescue by the government, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. A new austerity has returned. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.