Irish Society: The Celtic Tiger may have left us but, judging by this book, the task of making sense of it is very much in full flow. This edited volume, with contributions by 12 academics working in Ireland, North and South, marks an important addition to the increasingly critical evaluation of that period of intense economic and social change, writes Peadar Kirby.
As one of the editors, Colin Coulter, makes clear in his introduction, a very positive account dominated much of the first wave of literature on the Celtic Tiger, written mostly by economists. He argues that these "orthodox explanations", as he calls them, misrepresent the nature of Ireland's development in this period, consistently concealing its "dark side".
This book offers an "alternative biography of the Celtic Tiger", paying due attention to its fragile economic foundations, the growth in poverty and inequality as the most affluent reaped the greatest benefits, the declining quality of work with its increased stresses and strains, and the "baleful blandness" and "spiritual emptiness" of much of our cultural life which is dominated by an intense consumerism.
Early chapters by Denis O'Hearn and Kieran Allen, both of whom have written important books critical of the economic model underpinning the Celtic Tiger, allow them to update their earlier analyses. O'Hearn argues that the opportunity to transform Irish society for the better was essentially squandered, while Allen writes that the Celtic Tiger advanced "privatisation, deregulation and redistribution in favour of the wealthy".
Most contributors, however, examine hitherto neglected aspects of the Celtic Tiger's legacy. Sinéad Kennedy traces how it has made many women's lives "incredibly difficult", adding stressful work commitments to their role in the family. Steve Loyal shows how the Irish State has been implicated in the growth of racism through its procedures for dealing with asylum- seekers and immigrant workers, its toleration of their "pervasive exploitation", and the "illiberal spirit" with which it has increasingly interpreted international protocols which seek to protect their rights.
Steve Coleman looks at the State's marginalisation of the Irish language, the fate of which "will depend more and more on its profitability". In the one chapter on Northern Ireland, Pete Shirlow produces disturbing evidence that sectarian prejudice and fears have been growing since the Belfast Agreement.
Perhaps the most original chapter of all, however, is that by Anne B. Ryan. She reports evidence gathered through focus-group discussions and interviews that people are feeling trapped, stretched to the limit and with a lack of control over their lives. This illustrates ways in which economic growth can make us all poorer, she writes, as policies to achieve greater efficiency and competition at ever lower cost have created a "culture of contempt" which permeates the way we treat one another.
This book's title questions the view that, with the Celtic Tiger, Ireland has finally "made it". In giving rare voice to much of the malaise that grips our society, it is an important contribution to helping Irish people ask more critical questions about the recent phase of our development and decide whether this is the sort of society we want.
Dr Peadar Kirby is author of The Celtic Tiger in Distress: Growth with Inequality in Ireland (Palgrave, 2002) and co-editor with Luke Gibbons and Michael Cronin of Reinventing Ireland: Culture, Society and the Global Economy (Pluto Press, 2002). His most recent book, Introduction to Latin America: Twenty-First Century Challenges has just been published by Sage Publications
The End of Irish History ?: Critical Reflections on the Celtic Tiger
Edited by Colin Coulter and Steve Coleman, Manchester University Press, 212pp, £14.99 pbk, £45 hbk