ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes how the economy came to be transformed. The debates on Irish economic development are divided into two categories where it then becomes possible to undertake a comparative analysis on the merits of the various arguments presented throughout these debates. Category One debates include explanations of poor development for the period 1922-1993, while Category Two presents hindsight explanations for the underlying cause(s) of strong development including attempts to explain the Celtic Tiger phase of development. The most important factor identified for the emergence of the Celtic Tiger is membership of the European Union (EU) where many global corporation have located in Ireland to service this wider EU market. In 1998 Singapore's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate still remained at a level that was sixty-eight per cent greater than the Irish figure. The winning and accidental formula was regarded as too aggressive by the Taoiseach and needed to be subject to the mediating and positive influence of Catholicism.
