ALL CHANGED, ALL CHANGED UTTERLY
We have grown up. It won’t stop us making mistakes in the future but the Tiger years have indeed change the Irish nation.
We gained confidence.
We now know that we can excel. And not just at home, we can excel on a world stage.
Our population is well educated.
That gives us options and choices. It increases our range of skills and makes us more employable and more desirable as employees.
We speak English.
We may grumble that this is the language imposed on us by the Sasanach but we cannot deny that it’s handy to have. The fact that it is the lingua franca of international commerce gives us an edge in the world market.
We’re starting to take responsiblity for ourselves.
We’ve at last stopped blaming the “seven hundred years of slavery” for all our shortcomings. Listen to radio and you’ll hear about the projects local communities are setting up to help themselves through this recession.
We’re more entrepreneurial than ever.
Our new found confidence means that we are more willing to take risks and try new ideas.
We’ve have travelled the world.
That has broadened our views and shown us that, compared to much of the globe, we are very well off.
We have started to demand responsibility and accountability.
We are demanding it of ourselves, of business, trade, the churches, the professions and our politicians. And about time too.
We have a great sense of humour.
This means that we can laugh at ourselves, we can laugh at the world and we can make the world laugh at us and itself. An essential attribute during a recession.
Most important of all – we’ve stopped kow-towing to authority.
Another advantage of our new confidence is that we can look authority in the eye, ask the hard questions and demand the answers.
None of this will prevent us from making mistakes but it will stand to us nevertheless..
Irish Storyteller and Writer Catherine Brophy 
I don't know much about the life in Ireland, but you have U2 and Simple Minds – good enough for me.I wish we had Tiger years, too :DStill awaiting for those changes to happen here in Macedonia. Especially to gain some self confidence as a nation. My guess is that centuries of occupation have similar effects anywhere. We should learn from you people!
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