For the past twenty years, Ireland has been Europe’s improbable overachiever. A small island nation on the fringe of Europe managed to turn EU membership, American corporate investment and allegedly shrewd strategic diplomacy into an economic success story. While the Celtic Tiger whimpered following the 2008 crash, it leapt back into action with remarkable agility, creating a low-tax, free-market economy. Dublin became the unlikely bridge for American tech and pharmaceutical giants to meet the European market, a centre of financial services and an agile diplomatic operator.

As the US counts costs, not cousins, Ireland’s mix of moral posturing and strategic freeloading will wear ever thinner

Throughout the Biden years, Ireland had an uncanny ability to make everyone believe they were gett

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