Ireland's economic boom was questioned by the president of the Workers' Party, Mr Tom French, in his address to the party's ardfheis in Dublin on Saturday.
He said that over the past number of years, language had been "infested" by the phrase, the Celtic Tiger. "The phrase reflects a brazen arrogance by the nouveau riche and an analytical laziness by journalists, commentators and politicians," he said. Mr French said it was supposed to encompass the notion of a vibrant, thrusting, go-ahead economy as well as the notion of energy generated by the "most educated workforce in Europe".
The subliminal message was that with the Celtic Tiger the good times had arrived for all.
"On all counts the popular gloss on the Celtic Tiger has been a sham. Even the very term is a cheap second-hand import," Mr French said.
He added that the Celtic Tiger economy was based on the multinational manufacturing sector, and service and tourism sectors. The service sector was notorious as a haven for the black economy and low pay. "In the Republic and Northern Ireland, we have seen the squeals of horror from so-called entrepreneurs whenever there is a proposal to provide a legal minimum wage," he said.
"The proposed minimum hourly rate of £4.40, which even Mary Harney has signed up to and which Tony Blair will probably eventually sign up to, will not provide a living wage for a family."
He asked why the ICTU had concurred with the proposal when all its affiliated unions were campaigning for £5 an hour. "A wage of £4.40 per hour for a 40-hour week yields a gross weekly wage of £176. After tax, social insurance, superannuation and other deductions, we are talking about a disposable weekly wage of less than £150 a week," Mr French said.
"This still leaves many workers in the poverty trap. Who can afford to be sick on £150 a week? Who can buy a home in the Tiger economy on £150 a week?"
He said house prices were at an all-time high and spiralling upwards by as much as 4 per cent a month, fuelled by the lethal combination of builders and speculators who were engaged "on a frenzy of profit-making" at the expense of the home-buyer.
"Small to medium family homes now cost over £100,000. Mortgage repayments are up to £200 a week, more than the income of many families. What benefit has the Celtic Tiger for such families?"
Despite their massive profits, North and South, the banks had displayed an insatiable greed and demand for further profit, Mr French said.
"The attitude and actions of the banks epitomise, more clearly than any other factor, the two-tier society that exists in Ireland currently. Had an account-holder illegally taken money from NIB, or any of the other large commercial banks, we know only too well what their fate would have been," he added.
