Ireland’s economic performance
Deputy Timmins highlights Ireland’s ranking as the world’s second most successful economy and urges political leaders to protect economic confidence. The Minister attributes the result to successive Governments’ economic decisions.
Recently, Ireland was ranked the second most successful economy in the world for 2025 by The Economist. This did not warrant a mention in any of our media or here in this House. It shows the extraordinary progress we have made but we cannot take this huge success for granted. One of the main factors in future economic success is economic confidence. We must be careful not to run down this country, especially with false claims. Of course we have challenges; every country has challenges, and we must deal with them. Confidence and expectations are at the heart of economic outcomes. This leads to investment and success in the future. The challenges we face will not be dealt with by negativity. A successful economy is central to funding the increasing demands on our resources and is especially crucial for our young people.
Finally, does the Minister agree with me that all Members of the House have a duty to speak the truth about the Irish economy and not engage in continually bashing our country?
Comment on this
I thank Deputy Timmins for that question. It is important that we acknowledge that reference in a very prestigious magazine such as The Economist that Ireland is the second most successful economy in the world. It also has to be acknowledged that did not happen by chance. It happened because of political decisions made by previous Governments in this country to adapt our economy in such a way that it attracts outside investment while at the same time supporting indigenous industry in the country. Sometimes listening to people in this Chamber one would not think that was the case in respect of the country but it is an extremely successful country. Economic confidence in this country exists inside it and outside it as well. The Deputy makes a point about it being the second most successful economy but it has also been publicly reported in the Global Peace Index that Ireland is the second most peaceful country in the world. That was for 2025. Only Iceland was ahead of us. Sometimes we need to look at how people outside perceive us in order to get an accurate assessment of how successful the country is.
