Has the Celtic tiger lost its roar?

A collapsing property market, slowing consumer spending, rising unemployment and an economy that is fast deflating: that might sound all too much like a forecast for the British economy. But actually it’s a description of the Irish economy right now.

For the last decade, Ireland has been the most dynamic economy in Europe, with growth rates that far outstripped any of its rivals. This republic of not much more than 4 million citizens has turned itself into one of the most prosperous nations in the Western world. Fuelled by a long boom, a swaggering generation of Irish tycoons has emerged, buying up businesses around the world.

Yet in the space of a few months all that has swiftly turned around, amid collapsing property prices and fears of a subprime financial meltdown. The Celtic tiger looks to have lost is roar. ‘Growth is going to slow down dramatically this year,’ said Alan Barrett, an economist at Dublin’s Economic and Social Research Institute.