John FitzGerald: Timing key as Ireland adjusts to globalisation
Transition has been much less painful than in many other developed economies
Prior to Ireland’s EU entry, most cars were imported into the State like a dismantled jigsaw puzzle – they had been assembled in the UK, then taken to pieces and sent to Ireland to be reassembled. Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images
In many developed countries globalisation has become a bad word, the scapegoat for loss of manufacturing jobs, even though technical change has accounted for much of the lost employment.