House prices and sales of Mercedes cars are not the only things to have experienced strong growth in recent years. The services sector has also been a major beneficiary of the boom and the changing consumer habits that have accompanied it.
As people earn more, work harder and find themselves with less time for daily chores, they are more inclined to pay others to do their cooking, cleaning or catering. And a rash of firms has sprung up to meet the demand.
Offering everything from nail bars to new-age therapies, many are geared to meet the needs of the estimated 45 per cent of households where both partners work outside the home. For the "cash- rich and time-poor", saving money is no longer the top priority. Instead, time has become the more precious commodity and anything that provides more of it may be worth paying for.
IBEC, which draws nearly two-thirds of its members from the services sector, says that as Irish society has become more wealthy, it has followed the pattern evident in other developed economies, where services come to account for a larger proportion of the economy.
IBEC estimates the sector now represents nearly 70 per cent of GDP - which means it was worth around £50 billion (#63.5 billion) last year.
Covering a broad range of activities - from retailing, tourism and leisure through to education, financial services, software and consultancy - it has grown by an annual average rate of 7 per cent from 1993 to 2000.
Many of the ideas behind the newer service companies have been imported, or brought back, from that bastion of consumer culture, the United States. But Irish companies have also been quick to spot and adapt to changing needs, particularly in areas such as food.
With people spending less time sweating over a hot kitchen stove - research indicates people now spend an average of 20 minutes preparing meals and this is expected to fall to 10 minutes - the demand for convenience meals has grown.
The huge increase in forecourt retailing, which allows customers to buy food and petrol under one roof; the growing amount of supermarket space devoted to ready-made meals; and the rise in the number of convenience stores such as Spar and Centra are part of the response.
"We're in a convenience age," says Mr Frank Murphy, financial director of Superquinn, which has been quick to embrace change.
To make life easier for the consumer, Superquinn has introduced internet shopping - also offered by rival Tesco - supermarket banking and self-scanning systems in certain stores.
Mr Murphy estimates that between 1,500 and 1,600 people a week are now availing of its online shopping service, which sees them order via the internet and have the order assembled and delivered for an extra £5.
In addition to regular devotees of the service, certain clients use it at specific times, such as before going on holidays to ensure they don't return to an unstocked fridge.
Meanwhile, Superquinn's joint banking venture with TSB, Tusa, allows customers at the supermarket to do their banking at the same time as they buy their groceries.
In addition to remaining sensitive to changing needs, the sector faces other challenges. Mr Aebhric McGibney, head of IBEC's Services Council, says labour shortages, insurance costs and the introduction of the euro are among the biggest issues facing the sector.
The recent slowdown in the economy must also be a concern, particularly for those firms providing more esoteric services to the consumer - the sort that are dispensed with first when money is tight.
Mr McGibney says the first manifestation of a slower market has been a slight slowdown in employment growth, which rose by an annual average of 5.3 per cent in the seven years to 2000.
On the upside, however, it has made it slightly easier for firms to retain staff, he says.
jmosullivan@irish-times.ie
