Just to note, as I always seem to whenever that damn "Celtic Tiger" comes up. It wasn't about low taxes, it was about allowing major US multinationals (Google, Apple, Facebook, Oracle etc) to legally tax dodge on their EU profits. That's where the money came from. Then we all went mental (except for me, as I was dirt poor) on buying and selling property to one another.
Then our last (hopelessly corrupt) government decided to guarentee all of the bank liabilities when the crap hit the fan. The EU decided that one of these banks was never going to pay back the money (Anglo Irish), and so the money the government had given them went on the national debt. The markets panicked, the IMF were called in, and here we are.
Arguing that it was primarily due to low taxes is somewhat incorrect, while if the tax base had been more diverse the current deficit would have been less bad, we were still really screwed by the nationalisation of banking losses.
Then our last (hopelessly corrupt) government decided to guarentee all of the bank liabilities when the crap hit the fan. The EU decided that one of these banks was never going to pay back the money (Anglo Irish), and so the money the government had given them went on the national debt. The markets panicked, the IMF were called in, and here we are.
Arguing that it was primarily due to low taxes is somewhat incorrect, while if the tax base had been more diverse the current deficit would have been less bad, we were still really screwed by the nationalisation of banking losses.