Ireland
Executive Summary
Ireland Is In The EU . . .
Ireland
is one of the 15 Member States of the
EU, and who could deny that membership
has been a blessing for it, so far at
least? From being one of the lame ducks
of Europe, Ireland has reinvented itself
as the fastest-growing EU state, the future
centre of EU e-commerce, and a thoroughly
communautaire country unlucky enough to
be separated from the continent by the
euro-sceptic British. Ireland held the
Presidency of the EU for the first six
months of 2004.
. . . and Ireland is offshore.
Perhaps only the Irish imagination
could successfully have combined full-hearted
membership of the EU with a piratical
determination to out-Jersey the tax commissioners
of the Western World; but they seem to
have succeeded.
Ireland
has a population of more
than 4m, of whom over 1m live in
Dublin, the centre of government and business.
Ireland is a parliamentary democracy with
two houses of parliament, the Dail and
the Seanad. Executive Government is led
by the Taoiseach (prime minister). There
is a separate Judiciary and a largely
honorary President. The climate is temperate;
average temperatures 15 C (summer) and
5 C (winter). Until 2002 the currency
was the punt, IR£, which was a member
of the European Monetary System since
it began; Ireland then adopted the euro,
which began to be used on the street in
2002. Its introduction was smooth.
The
primary language in Ireland is English,
and the youthful population is well-educated.
The legal system is largely copied from
the English common-law system, although
the more continental influence of EU law
is beginning to be felt.
Ireland's
economy is still heavily dependent on
agriculture, but the Government has made
strenuous and largely successful efforts
to diversify it through a series of measures
to promote foreign investment. The most
important ones are the '10% manufacturing
rate of tax' which applies quite widely
in and out of manufacturing, the Shannon
Airport Free Zone and the International
Financial Services Centre in Dublin, aimed
at banks, insurers, mutual funds and the
securities industry. Both Shannon and
the IFSC offer 10% tax rates.
The
year 2000/2001 saw dramatically high growth
of 10% for Irish GDP, but the calendar
year 2001 resulted in only 5% growth,
with 6% in 2002. In 2003 growth fell to
only 2.7% but recovered to 4% in 2004
and 4.7% in 2005, rising again to 5.7%
in 2006.
The
most dramatic aspect of Ireland's reinvention
of itself in the last five years has been
a boom in high-technology investment.
Although since 2001 the world-wide high-tech
slump has had an impact,
Ireland is
now the preferred jumping-off point
for US high-tech firms entering Europe.
Ireland
agreed a corporation tax rate of 12.5%
with the EU to apply generally from 2003,
and has resolved differences with the
EU over its 'offshore' regimes in a way
that appears highly satisfactory for the
Irish. Ireland has become a favoured destination
of foreign, particularly American, companies
entering the EU market-place, and the
new EU enlargement can only reinforce
this trend.
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