Ireland's economy is the envy of much of the world. Thanks to massive investment by US-based multinationals, unemployment is low and corporate taxes have made the government so flush that they have been able to cut taxes, raise social spending, and reduce the debt at the same time.
But as in the US, the big numbers don't seem to be reflected in the lives of many Irish people:
Envious readers might wonder why Ireland needs to have an election at all. Can’t the politicians who have delivered these wonders simply be returned to office by acclamation? But the truth is that Ireland does not feel like a very happy place. Part of this is the frustration of fulfilled desires. Ireland has the two things its patriots dreamed of for centuries: political independence and economic prosperity. For a long time, we were an “if only” society — if only the English had not colonized us, if only we were not so poor, if only the church had not become so overweeningly powerful. Those six little letters covered a multitude of failings. They don’t anymore. Ireland’s problems today stem from the collective choices it has freely made for itself.
For just as the country acts as a showpiece for the upsides of extreme globalization, it also demonstrates the downsides. Ireland’s public services and infrastructure significantly lag its warp-speed economy, creating a place that feels somehow both overdeveloped and underdeveloped. And on its own, the globalized market economy does not produce the public goods necessary for a decent quality of life. Ireland may be awash with money, but its young people can no longer afford to buy homes; sky-high rents are making it impossible for many to live in the main cities of Dublin, Cork and Galway; homelessness and child poverty have risen; access to health care is uneven and uncertain; public transport and public schools are often overcrowded; physical infrastructure is seriously inadequate; and the pace of transition to a carbon-free economy has been painfully slow.
Then there is the issue of immigration; long an exporter of people, Ireland has become a migrant destination, notably for people from Ukraine.
For years the handling of this immigration — especially of a large influx of refugees from Ukraine and asylum seekers from Asia and Africa — has been somewhat chaotic. The failure of successive governments to adequately expand housing, infrastructure and public services has created a political opening for the far right and allowed the slogan “Ireland is full,” to seem both absurd and credible. This is still one of the least densely populated countries in Western Europe, but it can seem badly congested.
Two things: for one, again as in the US, people are looking not at the overall economic situation but at their own issues, and if you can't afford an apartment in the city where you want to live you don't enjoy lectures on GDP growth.
But for another, it seems ever more clear to me that we can't buy our way to happiness. Our political discourse is focused on the economy. This is partly because we believe that the government has a lot of power there, but maybe it is partly because our problems feel economic even when they are not. For example, in the widespread claims that people "can't afford" to have children.
Every social change that many people longed for and celebrate – viz., breaking the power of the Irish church – is mourned by others.
Is is even possible for a society to be, on the whole, happy?
I have my doubts.
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