Roger Partridge: Irish luck or Kiwi good fortune?

According to American folklore, Irish gold miners were notorious for striking it lucky. Yet, historian Edward O’Donnell claims the phrase ‘The luck of the Irish’ comes with a hint of derision. It’s as if to say, ‘Only by sheer luck, as opposed to brains, could these fools succeed.’

A hundred years or so later, the Irish are still accused of dumb luck. At the end of the 20th century, Ireland leapt up the OECD’s GDP-per-capita ranks to sit alongside a handful of nations at the top of the table.

Depending on who you ask, this was down to Ireland’s good fortune in having the European Union subsidise its infrastructure. Or to Ireland’s luck in being an English-speaking access point for foreign firms wanting to do business with Europe. Or perhaps more scandalously, it was because Ireland had the gall to set low corporate tax rates – and the luck to get away with it.

Roger Partridge: Foreign Investment - Ireland's secret financial formula is not so secret

Seeking Ireland’s secrets

Few countries feel so similar as New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland.

We are both island nations with much larger neighbours. Each of us has a population of about 5 million. We were both colonised by Britain. Consequently, English is our shared language, with only a per cent or two speaking the country’s first language natively. We lead the world in pasture farming.

And this year, we seem destined to meet in the knockout stage of the rugby world cup in France.

But, until the early 1990s, Ireland and New Zealand shared another less attractive characteristic. Both countries languished in the bottom half of the OECD’s GDP-per-capita league table.