According to Wall Street Europe, Ireland, "once an impoverished nation of immigrants", is well on the track to becoming the European Union's wealthiest member. With a growth rate of 7% in the late nineties, Wealth Report 2000 asserts that Ireland is rapidly closing the gap on richer EU states and the US. According to The Economist, the Irish gross domestic product will surpass all EU states and the US within a decade.

With current corporate tax rates as low as 10% and a "young, skilled, well educated workforce" Ireland has been able to offer foreign and domestic investors a stable, profitable, English-speaking base to serve both the European and the broader global markets. Ireland has experienced five straight years of stunning economic performance and today is a world leader in a number of aspects of economic performance.

With a high "value per kilogram", exports in the computer sector provide the core of the Celtic Tiger's strength. Recently Irlenad overtook the US to become the world's number one exporter of software and computer related exports have risent ot 40% of the country's total exports. The software industry is ideally suited to Ireland. It is labor rather than capital intensive and demands highly skilled young people.

One factor which will help to sustain the current economic growth is the return of many Irish people who emigrated in the 1980's with both knowledge and finacial capital. The Irish government is actively encouraging expatriates to return to Ireland to set up businesses. The government's Millennium Entreprenuers Fund was designed to assist these expatriates in their return to the homeland.

A progressive business climate and a well educated, productive labor force, have made and will continue to make Ireland a highly profitable location for industrial investment.