Ireland joins the world's wealthiest nations

[IrishArmenian]

Good thing my mother and father (born in south east Kerry, near the Cork border) bought land before this. That would be terrible for him if he tried to buy later. Cheers for me da's old country!

[thrashaholic]

It's because of your lovely low (relative) corporation taxes; an example for the rest of the world: a nice vindication of low tax economic policy. Good on you.

[Tribesman]

It's because of your lovely low (relative) corporation taxes; an example for the rest of the world: a nice vindication of low tax economic policy. Good on you.
Low corporation tax as in zero tax for 10 years for foriegn companies , but that does give the problem of the companies packing up and leaving after 10 years . Most workers however get stung on the 40+% income tax .
As Banquo pointed out in the opening post ,this jump in the wealth league is mainly down to vastly inflated property/land prices , similar to that in Britain just before the big crash . That is already leading to major problems and has resulted in a huge outflow of money from the country .

Yea it's worth a fortune, my aunt's bit of land in Cork is now worth about 10 times as much as it was in the 80's.
That must be very bad land Caravel , I could sell a plot today for 125,000+ that I only paid 3,500(in old money) for in '97 .

[thrashaholic]

It's because of your lovely low (relative) corporation taxes; an example for the rest of the world: a nice vindication of low tax economic policy. Good on you.
Low corporation tax as in zero tax for 10 years for foriegn companies , but that does give the problem of the companies packing up and leaving after 10 years . Most workers however get stung on the 40+% income tax .
As Banquo pointed out in the opening post ,this jump in the wealth league is mainly down to vastly inflated property/land prices , similar to that in Britain just before the big crash . That is already leading to major problems and has resulted in a huge outflow of money from the country .

I meant low corporation tax as in the 12.5 %, which is lower than every other country in the EU except Cyprus. Such low relative taxes are bound to encourage both foreign investment and growth in domestic industry. Here's a nice link pour toi: http://www.idaireland.com/home/index.aspx?id=659

Inflated land prices would have a major impact I agree, since land is, as I'm sure you're aware, generally people's most valuable asset (hence Thatcher's policy of selling people their council houses). I imagine that the 40% income tax doesn't really distort the figures because income isn't overly important wealth-wise. What I'd imagine is the most important factor though is consistantly high GDP growth figures (11% in 2000 I believe, a predicted 5% in 2006), these can't be attributed to land inflation alone (although land infaltion may be a result...).

Either way, I prefer GDP per capita (PPP - when appropriate) to compare national wealth and living standards, and although Ireland is still doing jolly well on that front (in the big league, if you will) it certainly isn't second (and Japan isn't first)...

Keep up the good work Ireland.

[caravel]

That must be very bad land Caravel , I could sell a plot today for 125,000+ that I only paid 3,500(in old money) for in '97 .

The "10 times" was not exact figures. I have no idea how much her land is worth, it probably cost thousands in the 70's and is now worth hundreds of thousands, but I do know that it's worth vastly more than it was anyway. It is pretty decent land, about 3 acres, and quite sought after for building plots, though my Aunt won't sell as she prefers to leave it wild.

[Fragony]

That's excellent news, now can we please have our money back? No need to spend dutch EU money on that puppy anymore.

[Banquo's Ghost]

That's excellent news, now can we please have our money back? No need to spend dutch EU money on that puppy anymore.

The glass is always half-empty for you, isn't it, Fragony?


Just in case anyone wants to know the source of Fragony's pain, look here.

Sample (2004):

The Irish at €396 per capita in net receipts from the EU, were the highest in the EU15 while the Dutch headed the net payers at €125 per head. Greeks benefited by €377 per capita, Portugal by €298 and Spain by €200. Germany paid $87 per capita into the EU Budget.

[Fragony]

The glass is always half-empty for you, isn't it, Fragony?

They took my glass. I know mia muca, I am just way to cynical for my age

[Husar]

The glass is always half-empty for you, isn't it, Fragony?

That´s positive thinking, isn´t it?
My opinion is usually that the glass needs to be empty.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I say good for them. Knowing how well they'd put it to use, I would've paid Ireland twice as much EU funds over the past 30 years.

That's excellent news, now can we please have our money back? No need to spend dutch EU money on that puppy anymore.

You miss the point Fragony. We ARE getting our money back. There's more wealth to be made by trading with filthy rich paddies than there is to be made by robbing them down to the very last potato from the hands of their dying children.
The EU is not about dividing the pie, it is about enlarging it for us all.

Trade between France and Ireland has doubled over the past six years, thanks to a relatively high economic growth in Ireland.

link

[Fragony]

I say good for them. Knowing how well they'd put it to use, I would've paid Ireland twice as much EU funds over the past 30 years.

You miss the point Fragony. We ARE getting our money back. There's more wealth to be made by trading with filthy rich paddies than there is to be made by robbing them down to the very last potato from the hands of their dying children.
The EU is not about dividing the pie, it is about enlarging it for us all.

link

Perhaps, but we pay way too much, I don't really feel like paying money for something as invisible and costly as the EU, the city of Amsterdam has more politicians then the european parlement, yet it costs a tiny little bit less. Free trade is fine and all, and it is fine because that is all 'europe' is, we don't need yet another government to do what the market does on itselve anyway(europeans prefer european products, what more can we ask?). The EU government is just a big fat slug sitting on top of a bucket with **** uphill. Just leave us be.