6. Narrating Crisis in Ireland’s Great Recession

The demise of Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ is said not to have been the fault of any one group or class, but rather the result of something akin to a national weakness of character. Nevertheless, debate over solutions to the crisis has been organized around a distinction between those who accept and those who reject austerity. Reviewing the origins of this discourse, this chapter identifies two phases in Ireland’s crisis. The first, from 2008 to 2013, is exemplified in the debates surrounding Ireland’s public sector pay reforms. The second begins with the departure of the Troika and concerns Ireland’s recovery. It is often remarked that ‘the Irish don’t protest’, but recent mobilization and the results of the 2016 election suggest the need to reconsider this argument.