Watched the final part of David McWilliams‘ documentary on the Irish economy tonight. The programme has been running in one hour segments for the past three weeks and has sought to shine a light on where our economy is and where it’s going. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It’s nice to see someone who is realistic in terms of our economic future and as one of the titular “Pope’s Children” I know there’s a time when our economy will decline. It’s an economic certainty and one which could hit Ireland particularly hard.
In the final programme he spoke to the M.D. of Microsoft Ireland in terms of their investment in the country. He pointed out that Microsoft accounts for 5% of our GDP and if you factor in HP and Intel that figure rises to 20%. With the emergence of China and India, two future economic superpowers, Ireland must be aware of the risk of these companies re-locating to the aforementioned havens in the East. Lucan, the town in which I live, is located just a couple of miles from Leixlip where Intel are based. Any rumour of job cuts has the community on edge and four of my close friends work in the plant itself in various capacities. I’m not an economist so I don’t pretend to be any type of expert but I did enjoy the series as it sought to engage those who may not be aware of what is driving this ageing Celtic Tiger.