Celtic Tiger

The "Celtic Tiger" (Irish: An Tíogar Ceilteach) is a term referring to the economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by a subsequent property bubble which resulted in a severe economic downturn.

At the start of the 1990s, Ireland was a relatively poor country by Western European standards, with high poverty, high unemployment, inflation, and low economic growth.^[1] The Irish economy expanded at an average rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000, and continued to grow at an average rate of 5.9% during the following decade until 2008, when it fell into recession. Ireland's rapid economic growth has been described as a rare example of a Western country matching the growth of East Asian nations, i.e. the 'Four Asian Tigers'.^[2]

The economy underwent a dramatic reversal from 2008,^[3] hit hard by the global financial crisis and ensuing European debt crisis, with GDP contracting by 14%^[4] and unemployment levels rising to 14% by 2011.^[5] The economic and financial crisis lasted until 2014; the year 2015 with a growth rate of 6.7% marked the beginning of a new period of strong economic growth.^[6]