The system only moved into disequilibrium as a result of the growing economic weight of emerging economies that have kept their exchange rates at artificially low levels via massive accumulation of reserves. At the same time, expansionary economic policies in some advanced economies, on account of the massive capital inflows from emerging economies, were the flip-side to the build-up of imbalances.
The growth of the Irish economy has clearly been driven by looking outward and becoming deeply integrated in the global economy. There are many factors which have contributed to this, the skills and education of the Irish labour force, access to the wider EU market (and  labour force), a stable environment for businesses and an attractive tax regime.