The Irish Economic Model Is Built on Rotten Foundations — Now Its People Want an Alternative
Held up as a eurozone poster boy after the 2008 crash, the Irish economy still isn’t delivering for the majority of its people, especially the young. A second global recession in just over a decade will sharpen popular discontent and the desire for a new model.
Fine Gael politician and former finance minister Michael Noonan. (Wikimedia Commons).
On May 12, 2014, Donald Trump’s private jet landed in Ireland’s Shannon Airport. He was there to oversee his new golf resort, bought for a song from the bankrupted previous owners. At the time, Trump was not yet a candidate for the presidency and was best known as a reality TV celebrity and a leading Obama “birther” conspiracy theorist.
When Trump descended to the airport tarmac, he stepped onto a red carpet. Three Irish colleens in matching red evening dress and stiletto heels serenaded him to the accompaniment of Irish harp and fiddle. Someone dressed like a butler in full Downton Abbey–style was taking snaps with a mobile phone. The mayor of County Clare was there.
More surprisingly, Trump was also welcomed by Michael Noonan, the Irish minister for finance, who had approved this shindig. Media commentary accused Noonan of “bowing and scraping.” Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson, Pearse Doherty, subsequently described the affair as “cringeworthy.”
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