Dublin Economics Workshop:Ireland can enjoy "quite substantial" rates of economic growth in the future if the current correction in economic performance is handled properly, Prof Patrick Honohan of UCD told The Irish Times.
He was speaking before delivering a paper to the workshop on "The Celtic Tiger's Next Phase" with Prof Brendan Walsh of UCD.
The economy had experienced a period of overheating, Prof Honohan said, and had now entered a phase of correction.
Assuming that this correction was adequately managed, there were two possible interpretations of how the economy might develop when the process of correction was completed.
The first saw economic convergence as having been achieved. Having caught up with Europe, the prospects for future growth were relatively modest and were tied to the rates of progress of our European partners.
The second interpretation, which Prof Honohan favours, holds that continuing rapid growth in population and capital accumulation can push out the frontiers of Ireland's potential for expansion, allowing sustained higher growth rates to be achieved into the future if this outcome is deemed to be socially desirable.
