A bit of a rant? Maybe, but the figures speak for themselves
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What is the legacy of the Celtic Tiger? Fintan O'Toole attempts to ask this question in a series of essays running to 169 pages. For a start, Ireland is now on the one hand the most globalised economies in the world - it is also one of the most unequal. In each of the eight essays he focusses on a particular aspect of Irish society, from the health service to tax evasion. He starts by giving the mainstream view of Ireland's economic boom of the 1990s, about how this was mainly due to a low tax rate and the rolling back of government. He then offers alternative contributory factors to the economic success story from a left-wing perspective, before going on to highlight the gross inequalities that persist in Irish society. He uses statistics and tables effectively to back up his views. The comment on the dust jacket of this polemic describes it as a wake up call for a nation in transition - I would reccomend it to both Irish people with an interest in current affairs but also to foreigners whose only image of Ireland is that of a poor country come good, particularily those people from Central and Eastern Europe that would wish their country to emulate Ireland's achievements - they may wish to reassess this wish after reading this book.
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