Hello, Argentinian here. What do you think about this Twitter thread on the “neoliberal myth” of Celtic Tiger?

4 comments

1. Only got to post 13 but had yet to see Pharma mentioned once. Which seems like a massive oversight.

2. Oh! It was all Haugheys fault! That’s new information but makes sense…

   E: In all seriousness, got about half way through. He knows more about this shit than we do. He’s not saying anything mad or outrageous and tbh, the one economist we can all name, David McWilliams, follows him on Twitter.

   Was there anything specific that you thought might be wrong?

3. No mention of the pharmaceutical industry. Down playing the massive role the building and property industry had in the boom. And giving the majority of the credit for the Celtic Tiger to the tech industry. A tech industry that couldn’t be more different to what you see now in 2022 that was majority manufacturing with Intel and Dell.

   The author of this thread doesn’t understand the Celtic Tiger anywhere near to the degree that they think they do.

   As an aside, calling Celtic Tiger Ireland neoliberal is actually hilarious. I grew up in the 1990s and the Catholic Church ethos was still dominating Irish society. I grew up with close LGBT friends, but aside from around their family and close friends, their freedom to express their sexuality publicly, safely was extremely limited.

   I always think you need to avoid using American “societyism” when describing Ireland because as a society we run the gambit of opinions on key social issues and can’t really be pigeonholed on a left/right political scale. And if you insist on describing us on that scale, we are Centerist or Centre Left. And if you can be Centre on that scale then it is not easily applicable to your country.

4. [deleted]