The facts about Ireland today suggest the Celtic Tiger has not brought the social blight alleged by its more pessimistic critics, argue Tony Fahey, Helen Russelland Christopher Whelan, authors of a new study.
Critics of the Celtic Tiger often claim that it has enriched the economy but weakened society. They say that more money and goods have come at the cost of wider social inequality, declining community life, over-emphasis on work and competition, and many other social ills.
To what extent is this gloomy view based on known facts? The Best of Times?, a collection of work by researchers at the Economic and Social Research Institute and other research centres, seeks to assess the social impact of economic change, drawing on a wide range of evidence.
Some aspects of this gloomy view of the social consequences of recent prosperity are difficult to adjudicate on factual grounds. Whether one considers more liberal attitudes to sexuality as progress or decline depends on one's philosophical position. Marital breakdown can be seen as a sign of moral decay or a reflection of rising expectations of intimacy and affection within marriage. Apples have to be balanced against oranges. How does one weigh up better education and improved health against increases in certain types of crime?
Yet, there are many areas where facts are available and should inform our views. A balanced reading of these facts suggests that the Celtic Tiger has not brought the social blight alleged by its more pessimistic critics. Rather it has yielded real, if imperfect, social progress. Affluent Ireland does indeed have many problems. But old problems have been solved or eased and the overall social outcome is undoubtedly positive.
Some social advances are directly rooted in the economy and show that the distinction between economy and society can be overstated. The most important of these is employment: a job is not just about pay but is also a social good. Conversely, unemployment corrodes people's social relationships and personal wellbeing. The greatest single social achievement of the Celtic Tiger era is the creation of an abundance of jobs - most of them good jobs.
The social scourge of job scarcity, alleviated only by sending our young people abroad, is gone, and now this is a country that people flock into rather than out of in search of employment. An added benefit is the widespread opportunities for mobility created by the large expansion in white-collar jobs. "Rags to relative riches" stories are common: the notion that "we are all middle class", while an overstatement, was unthinkable 15 years ago
Growth in real incomes and absolute living standards have been dramatic and widespread. Contrary to the claims of the more pessimistic critics, levels of deprivation, economic insecurity and consistent poverty have all declined.
There are many "yes, buts . . ." one could place against these achievements. Ireland is still unequal by European norms in terms of both opportunities and outcomes. However, it is not true that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. It is more accurate to say that the gap between the top and the bottom of the social ladder has failed to narrow. It helps that the entire ladder has been raised on to higher ground.
Other "yes, buts . . ." stand up to scrutiny less well. Much has been made of the hectic pace of life, the juggling of job and family responsibilities, the long commute to work, the weakening of community. These are said to have eroded quality of life even as the money has flowed. While there is some truth in these images, anecdotes and exaggeration have substituted for hard facts.
A careful sifting of the evidence offers a more balanced picture. The Celtic Tiger has been family-friendly in some important ways. As the boom arrived, people's confidence in the future increased and with it their willingness to form couples and have children rose, following precipitous decline during the bleak 1980s. The strains faced by working parents, especially mothers, are real. However, having too much work seems to be much less damaging than having too little.
Social support networks and attachments to communities remain strong, despite some observers' ritual incantations to the contrary. The image of masses of people lost and isolated in anonymous housing estates is belied by how settled and at home people feel. Suburban communities may differ from those of the old rural Ireland, but they are communities nonetheless.
How has the general public responded to the positive and negative aspects of change? One important piece of evidence is that Irish people's level of pride in their national identity is way above the European average. Furthermore, since the early 1980s there has been a striking increase in such expressions of pride among younger age groups.
One could extend the lists of positives and negatives bequeathed by the Celtic Tiger to Irish society. But it is hard to see how the positive list is not longer and more impressive.
It is therefore easy to agree with President Mary McAleese. In a speech in the United States in November 2003, she said: "If the men and women of Ireland's past could choose a time to live, there would be a long queue for this one."
Best of Times? The Social Impact of the Celtic Tiger, edited by Tony Fahey, Helen Russell and Christopher T Whelan, is published by the Institute of Public Administration. Tony Fahey (formerly of the ESRI) is professor of social policy at UCD. Helen Russell is a senior research officer and Christopher T Whelan is a research professor at the ESRI