Ireland is far and away the most dynamic, successful and fastest-growing nation in Europe. Construction and renovation are the orders of the day as old pictures of Irish poverty and despair are being replaced with multi-media economic exhilaration. A pro-business government and Ireland's membership in the European Union are paying off. Membership opened up Ireland's trade with Europe and made it a logical choice for U.S. firms looking for entry into the new unified market. There's a net immigration to Ireland, reversing a two-centuries-old trend. Ireland's GDP per capita has surpassed Britain's. Some of Europe's most poorly educated children of the 1960s are parents to wired and wireless leaders in software, silicon and pharmaceuticals. The old Ireland is still there, along-side the new. It has been said that Ireland has gone directly from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first in one generation. The new Ireland is centered on Dublin, Limerick and Shannon, and is peopled with the young and techno-savvy. Much of Ireland's progress has simply been a matter of catching-up to the rest of Europe, but the momentum has propelled Ireland to its place as the most future oriented-country in Europe, and a leader for the rest of the world. Smart-tours will take you there in 2001. | 
Ireland Moves Ahead 
