>>Their low corporation tax rates brought in a lot of foreign companies. My nephew (from France) works there for Lenovo.
>>
>>Its a problem for countries outside the European core (which I would say is pretty firmly centres on North Eastern France and the Rhine). They need to be able to attract business to invest in them and low tx rates is an obvious solution. The Irish economy was pretty successful. Its the banks that have pulled it down so far and so quickly.
>
>Full ACK. Do you have any idea why they opted for a complete bank bail-out ?

Here's some more light reading for you Thomas :-)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8182605/Chinas-credit-bubble-on-borrowed-time-as-inflation-bites.html