Ireland: The A-Z Irish Glossary - 'C' is for 'Celtic Tiger'
'Celtic Tiger'
The term `Celtic Tiger' was introduced by the writers of financial pages
to draw a dubious and crowd-pleasing comparison between the Asian 'Tiger'
economies and the accidental boom in Ireland's economy that began in the mid-nineties and ended abruptly in the mid-noughties.
Example: RTE Presenter Pat Kenny's 'Late Late Show' pay-cheque (allegedly three times the salary of the U.S. President!)
Those who benefited most from the boom (politicians, managers, property
developers, estate agents) over-indulged in
self-congratulation that continues to threaten today's Irish economy. The truth is, the Celtic Tiger was the result of no
ingenious economic planning on the Irish government's part,
instead it relied on bribery (by handing out grants willy-nilly)
and by also enticing well-educated English speaking people into a lifetime of (un)employment where they were willing to work in
very obnoxious conditions for very little money.