The Role of the State in Growth and Welfare

The Irish economy has undergone a profound transformation in the past forty years. Ireland in the 1960s was comparatively underdeveloped industrially and economically and its welfare state lagged behind developments elsewhere in Europe. By the end of the 1990s however, after decades of advances and reversals, Ireland was being hailed a success story within the global economy. Economic growth rates in the 1990s have been among the most rapid in the world and GDP has converged with the core European economies. This economic progress has not, however, been matched by a complementary development in social rights.