Free Republic

This past spring much of the world's attention was focused on the financial dilemma in Greece. While the news managed to slightly penetrate the attention span of the average citizen of the United States, it was largely ignored. After all it was Greece, a country that seems to revel in its laid back psyche and history of economic and government upheavals. Today however, lost in the coverage of the mid-term elections, the tea party and Christine O'Donnell's high school hi-jinks, is the news that Ireland, a country to which nearly 40 million Americans can trace their ancestry, is on the...

Black children left out of Irish schools By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 41 minutes ago Almost all the children who could not find elementary school places in a Dublin suburb this year were black, the government said Monday, highlighting Ireland's problems integrating its increasingly diverse population. The children will attend a new, all-black school, a prospect that educators called disheartening. About 90 children could not find school places in the north Dublin suburb of Balbriggan , a town of more than 10,000 people with two elementary schools. Local educators called a meeting over the weekend for parents struggling...

Chris Edwards is director of tax policy studies and author of Downsizing the Federal Government. On St. Patrick's Day, we wear green and celebrate the culture of Ireland. I'll be down at the pub tomorrow, but I'll be toasting Ireland's success at attracting greenbacks -- all that investment flowing into the Emerald Isle and the resulting prosperity. Ireland has boomed in recent years, and it now boasts the fourth highest gross domestic product per capita in the world. In the mid-1980s, Ireland was a backwater with an average income level 30 percent below that of the European Union. Today, Irish...

THE celebrations this week in Ireland might not only be for their national patron, St Patrick but also for the booming economy. Fortunately, there are several funds which allow investors here to share in their success. Ireland is Europe’s fastest growing economy: over the past decade it has seen real growth of 114 per cent in comparison with 32.9 per cent in the UK. Favourable demographics, a flexible labour market, low corporation tax and a pro-business environment have all contributed to the Celtic success. Gartmore Irish Growth is an investment trust fully focused on the Irish market. Launched nine years...