[WhereIsTheTruth]

Being a welfare state is not the problem, that's the duty of the government, and should be an example for many countries

However, it's a tax heaven within Europe, therefore companies are not incentivized to create jobs, that's the problem

When you have nothing to do and nothing in your life to aspire to, you become sad

[rsynnott]

Ireland has almost the lowest unemployment rate in Europe, and a pretty high job vacancy rate.

> However, it's a tax heaven within Europe, therefore companies are not incentivized to create jobs, that's the problem

Eh? The tax haven aspect has created about 300,000 jobs, if you only count IDA client companies (and not companies who benefit from spending by those companies and their employees). Ireland had high unemployment from before independence to the 90s; since the tax haven (or, as an old Taoiseach insisted on calling it, "small open economy") thing got going, unemployment has plummeted.