Would You Move to the Second Richest Country in the EU?

[Andrew49]

This country's GDP was the second highest at 31% above the average

An average of €3,299 per person was spent on non-capital public expenditure on health care in 2008, up nearly 62% from 1999

Inflation fell in 2009 ... only two other coutries in the EU had price falls.

From 2004-2008 homicide fell by 10% and sexual offences by 20%.

This country has the lowest divorce rate and the highest fertility rate in the EU

On education, student numbers increased in 2009, particularly at third-level.

The proportion of the population aged 25-34 that has completed third-level education is the second highest in the EU.

The pupil-teacher ratio at primary level is high by EU standards. In the school year 2006/2007, this was joint fifth-highest in the EU at 17.9.

Early school-leaver rate is better than the EU average.

On housing, the report said the number of homes built peaked at almost 90,000 in 2006 and the average value of a new housing loan rose from €92,000 in 1999 to €270,000 in 2008.

Second Richest Country in the EU

That's it I'm packing me bag and heading there!

[Cato]

It's all a kind of sick joke as we are about to see a collapse in public services. It's a kind of 'what might have been' report, if only we had managed ourselves better.

It leaves out our high, and getting higher, suicide rate.

[Andrew49]

It's all a kind of sick joke as we are about to see a collapse in public services. It's a kind of 'what might have been' report, if only we had managed ourselves better.

If Ireland is less innovative than the average, it is not for lack of effort. According to the report, Irish workers labour longer than their European peers. This is one reason why productivity per person employed is one third higher than the average and the second highest among the 27.

It leaves out our high, and getting higher, suicide rate.

And that in 2007 15 people were dying each and every day due to health inequalities ... that's 5,000 preventable deaths every year on the island of Ireland. The suicide statistics are astounding and disturbing ... 10 every week !