[bell-cot]

Reaction: Is ignorance of history a requirement to hold political office in Ireland? 'Cause last I heard, Ireland's experience with richer / larger / more powerful / more developed nations taking root in Irish soil was rather grim.

EDIT: I wasn't just thinking of China. As the article notes:

> Ireland’s budget watchdog, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council said last year that just three foreign companies contributed around a third of Ireland’s corporate tax revenue from 2017 to 2021. Company filings showed Apple, Google and Microsoft paid the most taxes in 2021.

> The Central Bank is also warning of the country’s over-dependence on income tax revenue from a small number of the world’s richest countries.

...which leaves Ireland hostage to a tiny number of foreign corporations, that obviously don't give a crap about the country. And to the foreign tax laws which - for now - allow trillion-dollar corporations to launder their profits through tax-haven Ireland.

[mytailorisrich]

They did OK attracting US giants. Attracting Chinese giants as well is a good way to diversify.

[bell-cot]

Perhaps. But maybe they should ask a Chinese historian about the "good old days", when China had a diverse bunch of foreign powers on their soil.

History doesn't actually repeat, but...

[eunos]

PLA not opening base on Ireland anytime soon

[bdjsiqoocwk]

The CCP actually has institutions[1] present in many western nations. So it's not a crazy thing to be concerned about.

[1] Fine, maybe not the PLA. Still, there's more to power than just military power. If you're naive to think otherwise you'll get infiltrated and realize too late.