The "Celtic Tiger" is a nickname for the Republic of Ireland, referring to that country's rapid economic growth during the 1990s. Many economists credit Ireland's low taxation and business-friendly regulation policies as responsible for much of the growth. A more sceptical intrepretation is that much of the growth was due to the fact that the economy of Ireland had lagged the rest of northwestern Europe for so long that it had become the one of last sources of a relatively large, relatively low-wage labour pool left in that region of the world. Ireland's membership of the European Union since 1973 has helped the country gain access to markets that previously it had to access through the United Kingdom, and provided subsidies and investment capital. IDA Ireland attracted a variety of high profile companies to Ireland.
The term is an analogy to the nickname "East Asian Tigers" applied to South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries of East Asia during their period of rapid growth in the 1980s.
In recent years, as economic growth has slowed significantly, there have been fears that the Celtic Tiger is extinct. In particular rising wages and inflation, poor infrastructure and the accession of new members to the EU in 2004 have been blamed for a loss of competitiveness. It remains to be seen if upskilling, particularly dependent on graduates will restore confidence in the economy.