ABSTRACT
This chapter presents and discusses specific economic data to establish whether or not the Tiger status of the economy was a deserved one. Data on the nature and level of economic activity evident in the transformed modern Irish economy revealed high levels of sustained economic performance as a durable feature of the Celtic Tiger. The decline in unemployment from 1975 onwards marked a fundamental transformation of the Irish labour market. The chapter shows at the outset of the Celtic Tiger in 1994 approximately one fifth of the population had an income below half of the average Irish household income level and were classified as poor using the Combat Poverty Agency's Poverty Qualification Threshold. Further examination of the poverty data revealed that a significant section of Irish society experienced unusually high levels of deprivation in their daily lives. The multi-national dominance of the economy was a noteworthy feature of the Irish economy.
