Czech it out now - it's a mini-Celtic Tiger

One of my mother's first encounters on arriving in Ireland as a Czech emigre in the early 1970s was with a puzzled shopkeeper who, asking after her accent, said: "Czechoslovakia? But I thought yez were all black over there."

It is a decade this year since the Communist regime fell in Czechoslovakia, and the Irish have savied up to such an extent that Prague alone boasts seven Irish pubs, as well as one Cuban-Irish and one "Keltic" bar; 10 "Irish" groups, dozens of Irish companies; an English-language theatre group largely sponsored by Irish companies, and a thriving Irish studies programme at the university.

Prague, which is host to 80 million tourists a year, has become a popular holiday destination for the Irish - Dublin is now just a two-and-a-half-hour flight away. It has also became an attractive business location - after 40 years of Communism in East-Central Europe, the Czech market is hungry for new products and services.

Currently, there are 70 Irish companies trading in the Czech Republic - businesses ranging from a radio station, employment agency and hides manufacturers to graphic artists and crisps manufacturers. Total Irish exports to the Czech Republic amount to £120 million.

As Niall Keyes from the Prague office of the Irish company Grafton Recruitment points out, for Irish coming to work in the Czech capital, the city offers a wealth of culture, accessibility to the rest of Europe and a good standard of living. Prague also provides a varied, non-stop, cheap night life, according to the young and enthusiastic Irish bar staff at the James Joyce. One of them explains in one word why he's stayed in Prague for three years: "Alcohol."

The Czechs, like the Irish, love to drink. Besides producing some of the best quality beers in Europe (famously Pilsener Urquell and Budvar), much of their social activity is centred on sessions in pubs and cafes. The Czechs think the Irish are much the same as them when it comes to drink - and the advent of the Irish pub confirms their suspicions.

Irish bars are big business - the type that have been reimported to Dublin so that tourists who have experienced them abroad can now come to Dublin for the "real" thing. Gar, a barman at the James Joyce, estimates only 20 per cent of the clientele are Czech. However, Guinness is also popular in Czech bars and cafes, and Bass, which bought the Czech brewery Staropramen, has brought out its own "Irish" drinks aimed at a Czech market. One of them, Velvet - a Caffreys taste-a-like - is a big hit.

Ireland is also receiving glowing coverage in the Czech press because of the ubiquitous Keltic Tiger - one recent article on Ireland came with the headline "Treasure Island", telling readers that if they wanted to be "wealthy and educated" they should look to Ireland.

Pavel Kysilka, vice-governor of the Czech National Bank, has argued that the Czechs should follow the "Irish [economic] model". This is something of a turnaround - after the Czechs became independent in 1918, they were seen as a model for an independent Ireland. In the 1920s, Czechs were brought over to advise on peat and sugar technology, and were instrumental in setting up Bord na Mona and Bord Suicra. It was two Czechs who revived Waterford Crystal in 1946, in a town that had seen an influx of Czech glass-blowers and cutters in the 19th century.

Historical and cultural links between the countries are much in evidence today. There is still a street in central Prague called Hibernian Street, named after a Franciscan monastery established by Irish monks in the 17th century. The Czechs have rediscovered 2,000-year-old Celtic roots - Bohemia comes from "Boii", the name of the local Celtic tribe - but much of it is wishful thinking, an attempt to dis-identify from their Slavic heritage which was heavily promoted by the Communist regime.

This "affinity to the Celtic", similarly employed by the Irish to distance themselves from the English, has resulted in, according to Niall Keyes, a "deep interest in all things Irish". Irish music is extremely popular in Prague - you can also take Irish dancing lessons here, from a Czech teacher. You can study Celtic mythology, as well as Irish language, literature and politics at Prague University, thanks in part to a grant from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. It also sponsors a module at another Czech University, which recently hosted an Irish studies weekend, with speakers from Belfast, Dublin, Warsaw, Budapest and Prague. Irish writers from "Maeve Binchyova" to Joyce have been translated (Joyce's sister, Eileen, was married to a Czech).

Reciprocally, the co-founder of the Irish Czech and Slovak Society, an amiable Englishman with an infectious chuckle, Gerry Turner, is one of the main translators of contemporary Czech writers into English. Turner, who lived in Prague in the 1970s, was involved in translating for dissident circles and smuggled out manuscripts for the then dissident Jan Kavan, now Czech Foreign Minister.

The brand image of Ireland is not all positive - a taxi driver told me that he would never go to Ireland because of the violence there. However, he added that he loved Irish whiskey and, as he zoomed away, there was a giant Kiss FM (98 FM's Czech company) bumper sticker on his car.

And on St Patrick's Day this year, Czech radio interviewed a local chef who works in one of the Irish pubs. Talking about Irish stew, he said: "Can you believe it?! They put everything into the same pot. Everything - carrots, potatoes, meat. Pah!" he sneered. "This Irish goulash."