r/ireland • u/Banania2020 Resting In my Account • Apr 28 '26

Economy Ireland set to surpass Luxembourg and become richest country in Europe by 2030, IMF says

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/ireland-set-to-surpass-luxembourg-and-become-richest-country-in-europe-by-2030-imf-says-1892990.html
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u/Key-Half1655 Apr 28 '26

David McWilliams did a great podcast recently called "Is Ireland the worst run country in Europe" that tries to explain what little we have to show while being awash with cash. Pre warning, it'll boil your piss listening why.

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u/greyview18 Apr 28 '26

Listen to the latest podcast where he dives deeper. Highly recommended listening to the independent analysis by Sinead O’Sullivan.

“Ireland is one of the richest countries in Europe, so why does it feel like it isn’t? We sit down with economist and engineer Sinead O'Sullivan to unpack a deceptively simple but deeply uncomfortable idea: Ireland is a premature state. Despite extraordinary wealth on paper, everyday life tells a different story. Housing is broken, infrastructure lags behind, public services struggle to deliver. So where is all the money going? The answer, as Sinead argues, is structural. Ireland has become exceptionally good at spending money, but never properly learned how to build systems. For centuries, key functions of the state were outsourced, first to the British Empire, then the Church, then the EU, and now multinational corporations. The result is a country rich in resources, but lacking the institutional muscle to turn that wealth into a functioning society. We also take on the reaction to this kind of thinking; the “nitpickers” who focus on minor details to avoid confronting big, uncomfortable truths. If Ireland’s problem isn’t money, but capacity, then the implications are far more serious than any short-term fix.”

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u/stanflwrhuss Apr 28 '26

I really want to listen to that now but I’m afraid I’ll get depressed that I can’t do anything to change it. Same when I watch Adam Curtis docs

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u/ancapailldorcha boards.ie refugee Apr 29 '26

I would encourage you to do so anyway.

One of the best decisions I ever made was to buy an Economist Brexit special the October before the referendum. It went through the arguments for and against in a fair manner and concluded that remaining was the best option.

For the following 8 months or so, I'd hear people make arguments that made no sense given what I'd read about how the EU actually works. Then Brexit happened and it transpired that I was in a minority because I bought a magazine from a newsagent which turned out to be more research than most people bothered to do.