IT’S NOT QUITE Jedward and it’s certainly not hurling but The Guardian newspaper’s editorial writers have today written a glowing tribute to the IDA Ireland.
The State agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment into the country has had a good year and with unemployment falling it can justifiably point to having had a tangible impact on our economic recovery.
Or as The Guardian puts it: “At a time when many politicians still like to denigrate everything about the public sector, it is worth looking across the Irish Sea to observe a state institution that plays a key role in a mixed economy.”
Understandably the article got a tweet from the IDA itself this morning:
The paper notes that the IDA – which stands for Industrial Development Agency – has only 254 public servants or a “small, dedicated army of economic diplomats” which it says has ”arguably done more to transform the Irish economy than the financial alchemists in the now shattered banking sector who lent so recklessly in the boom years”.
There’s a nod to the nasty bankers and particularly the “defunct and disgraced Anglo Irish Bank” which was the antithesis of the IDA whose employees “worked quietly in the background, crossing continents, persuading global executives that Ireland had the educated workforce and the strategic gateway into the European market.”
The paper also notes that the IDA’s work has been bolstered by our famous low corporation tax rate which is, our government keeps saying, sacrosanct.
Much like our fine tradition of hurling which The Guardian described as a “shining example of sportsmanship” in October after the epic All-Ireland hurling final replay between Cork and Clare.
While two years ago the paper praised “the Republic’s court jesters”, Jedward, who it said had “cheered their nation up”.
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