ABSTRACT
Introduction The Republic of Ireland (hereafter referred to as Ireland) is the smallest of the countries examined in this book with a population of 4.6 million (CSO, 2012b: 13). Sixty-one per cent live in urban areas, locations with population of 1,500 or more, and approximately one-third (35 per cent) lives in densely populated areas, somewhat below the EU average of 42 per cent (see Table 1.1). Ireland’s recent macroeconomic history has been referred to as a ‘rollercoaster’ (Whelan and Maitre, 2014). The ‘Celtic Tiger’ period of very substantial economic growth from the mid-1990s-2007 was preceded by two decades of economic stagnation and under-performance (Kennedy et al., 1988). Despite this, significant employment growth was achieved during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era and the population increased by 17 per cent and households by 14 per cent (CSO, 2007).
