In retrospect the mid 1990s can be seen as a macroeconomic “Golden Age” for Ireland (Honohan and Walsh, 2002). Yet it must not be thought of as an era to which the economy could even expect to return, or even to have sustained. This was Turbocharging 2.0.
The rapid growth rates represented a catch-up as the economy finally approached the production frontier by achieving essentially full employment (and with the traditional farming sector no  3  Among others being the battleground of debates about the possibility of an expansionary fiscal contraction (see Barry and Devereux (1995), Bradley and Whelan (1997), Giavazzi and Pagano (1990), Honohan (1992) and McAleese (1990).