ABSTRACT
While chapter one painted broad brushstrokes of Ireland's economic development and revealed the longer term sectoral trends and demographic changes that characterised the Irish economy, the purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss specific economic data to establish whether or not the Tiger status of the economy was a deserved one. On the one hand, the data strongly suggests that internationally accepted benchmarks were indeed achieved if not exceeded. On the other, more data confirmed that by international standards high levels of poverty featured prominently and where an unusually high risk of poverty for certain disadvantaged social groups was to retain its presence in Irish society for the duration of the Celtic Tiger.
