I have been in Ireland this week, which is never a hardship. En route, I read exchanges in the Herald’s letters columns about the relative merits of Scottish and Irish economies, particularly as they are affected by inward investment policies and, of course, our constitutional status.

It’s an old debate and one which is subject to a favourite Scottish sport of cherry-picking. When convenient, Ireland is held up as a model of what Scotland could be, if only…. It’s awash with inward investment, particularly from America, and has growth rates to make our eyes water. Alternatively, as the Nobel laureate Paul Kruger sneered, it’s all “leprechaun economics”.

Occasional contact with a “real economy” is a useful corrective to such selectivity in either direction. The transformation in Ireland, particularly from the 70s through to the 90s, helped by a lot of EU money and the Celtic Tiger, was remarkable but far from complete.

There’s plenty wealth in Ireland but there’s also poverty, as a wander through Dublin or Limerick or Cork will confirm. In other words, there is a lot more in common with our own problems than the cherry-pickers like to admit. It’s not a competition.

Read More:

Winter fuel payment u-turn exposes flaws in SNP's universalism

According to a report by Barnardo’s this very week, more than a quarter of Irish parents did not have enough food to feed their children. In 2023, Ireland spent 8.1 per cent of GDP on welfare compared to 10.8 per cent in the maligned UK.

........

© Herald Scotland