Do you believe that we in Ireland are now richer than those in the UK?

GDP is mainly a measure of multinational activity in Ireland and not a true measure of Irish wealth. The CSO got their fingers wrapped a few years ago when they reported unbelievable numbers for Irish growth rates, that was termed "leprechaun economics "

Ya I'm not defending the UK's investment policy at all.

But it's no excuse for people who sat on their holes blaming everyone else and voting for Brexit.

china and India benefited a lot because environmental and health and safety legislation quite rightly meant costs went up.

Much easier to get things made in countries where these things are not a factor.

Germany produces a lot of luxury items so the additional costs can be absorbed. I have been out of the industry for a while now, but BMW used to make the vast majority of its 3 series in South Africa and Mexico, with Germany being reserved for the more exclusive ranges. VW and Mercedes are the same. They all have plants or joint ventures in China as well.

don’t forget, Germany is currently the sick man of Europe and its economy is stagnating.

it has been reliant on foreign investment and also reliant on high end jobs. Yes, Ireland has a lot of pharma but it is nearly all pure manufacturing with research being done in the US, UK or Germany.
the UK has huge amounts of talent coming out of the universities who create some fantastic IP, but it then get bought up and the products made elsewhere and that has nothing to do with Thatcher or anything else, it is simple globalisation.

of course, but for how long can they do that? There is a reason why their economy is in the sewer at the moment.

I'd say it's partially true. The city of London does have a lot of wealth, way more than Dublin ever could have. Same goes for certain rural areas in the UK, beautiful coasts as well as certain other cities and villages.

And yes, there are some parts of the UK which are very poor as well as areas where the outlook is permanently poor. Declining economies and economic shifts, business depressions, etc….

Ireland's budget and financial debt still seems to be rather large and go back to the financial ciris.

Ireland also has problems, like chronically under-fundend police services and even more under-funded defence forces. Parts of society would also deny the idea that Ireland could ever be attacked which would make it even more attractive for an enemy to consider invading in a case of a conflict. A capable Irish air force with fighter jets is as unrealistic as ever…..

The NHS in the UK seems bad, the HSE in Ireland even worse.

Ireland's roads / bridges and infrastructure seems better.

Property prices to buy seem better in Ireland than in the UK, but rents are unrealistically high. This makes it tough for younger people as they can't build up any savings.

Dublin is still lacking key infrastructure, trains, a possible underground, more LUAS lines, etc… Possible high rise housing is controversial in Dublin, often get's the chop for whatever reason, whilst UK cities seem to be building high rise after high rise.

Until I lived in England I had had a very positive impression of the NHS, but then trying to access the NHS which is paid for via my council taxes changed my perception. It was easier to just get a next day appointment at my old GP whenever I was home. The same cervical cancer failures were happening via the NHS as in the HSE, the same US labs were failing both systems but there was hardly any media coverage in the British press about it.

There seemed to be a UK societal embargo about mentioning any negative outcome stories about the NHS whereas discussing HSE weaknesses is a weekly staple of Irish media, and I'm ok with highlighting where improvements are needed rather than not talking about it, like in the UK.

I think Dublin is a planning mess and an infrastructural nightmare. I feel extremely confident anyone who had to make decisions about public transport doesn't use it, and that no one involved in the planning of inner Dublin city living actually lives there.

We also must be at the very top of the table in terms of household wealth.

Over 200k per person for every man, woman and child in the state.

Our economy is booming of course if you can't get a mortgage or buy a house you may not feel great having to pay ridiculous rent for a small flat councils in England are going broke cutting back services the labour party is raising tax's on everything it can think of economy's gp in cycles boom bust every government is a combo of ff fg and some independent party

We are in Celtic tiger mark 2 with the difference that it's a lot harder to get a mortgage and we have a housing crisis

Young people are leaving because of the housing crisis and high tax's

And it costs 3ook to build a bike shelter

Household wealth compared across countries is utterly pointless. Makes no account for how much that money gets you in that country.

If you compare it against a country with a comprable cost of living, it is a reasonable metric. So comparing it with the UK would be reasonable.

Our weather is pretty much comparable to the UK. It's not as if the UK is parked next to Tenerife.

housing access is on a par with other locations with successful economies.

Our health systems has better outcomes than the NHS

Investors are a small percentage of purchasers when it comes to our housing.