In addition, the stock of wealth in Ireland remains below the EU norm. This strong growth has paid large dividends in the labour market - traditionally Ireland’s Achilles’ heel. For many years, Ireland’s employment performance had been quite anaemic, with many commentators characterising the economic situation as being one of “jobless growth”. Total employment actually fell during the 1980s.
To just give you one example, if 50 percent of the allocation of Rs.100 billion which was made last year to bear the losses of the public sector corporations and enterprises was diverted to education, health and other social services, imagine how much it would have helped the common man in this country.