In January 1991 a Guardian editorial lauded “the continuing Irish economic miracle.” Because of prudent economic management and an incomes bargain with trade unions (which the Irish government, unlike British Tories, acknowledges) Ireland in 1989 and 1990 boasted the fastest growing economy in the European Community. Exports were booming, borrowing was down, and inflation was low. All seemed civil and sane. Across the frontiers, however, Irish citizens were experiencing events differently than British editors imagined. If rapid economic growth without prosperity is miraculous then that was indeed what was happening. As one scans the economic situation an intense sensation of déjà vu grows.

A noteworthy volume taking a cultural inventory on the Irish miracle has as its theme for the 1990s a “state of aimlessness” stemming from a widespread and, for many citizens, realistic sense that Ireland “does not have a future.” The editor cited the persistent problems: unemployment, emigration, poverty, indebtedness, right-wing triumphalism, and the deceptively distant sounds of fury in the North of the island (and, lately, on the British mainland).

Unemployment broke the 20 percent mark in 1991 (official statistics a little later were juggled to lower the rate several points) and was twice the EC average.