Impact of Globalisagion on a Developed Country

Like all developed countries, Ireland has been subjected to at least some forms of globalisation.

However, this is not recent, as it began as far back as the 16th century when Ireland was a colony of the British Empire. Even at that time, it was forced to establish new trade links with a variety of different countries as part of its mother country’s global trade network

After independence, the Irish government introduced extortionist taxes and tarifs on imports in attempt to protect and promote Irish businesses. However, this had as many negative effects as it did positive, most notably the fact that it preserved trade with other countries and discouraged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It was not until the 1950s that Ireland finally relaxed its trade barriers, enabling Ireland to become part of the ever expanding world economy once again; the difference this time that it was doing so on its own.

Since the , a key element of government policy has been to promote the transition from traditional reliance on primary economic activities towards both secondary and even more so tertiary activities

New markets have also been developed. Until Ireland became globalised, it traded primarily with the UK, a common consequence of colonialism. Today, its partners are not so restricted an now incorperate the rest of the EU, North America and some parts of Asia. Europe is now an important destination for some of our manufactured goods, with Asia being one of our key sources for important manufactured goods while North America supplies both capital and intellectual services

In the past decade, the destination of Irish exports were roughly; UK (11.4%), EU (40.6%), USA (27%), Switzerland (2%), China (7.1%), Japan (2%) and the rest of the world (9.9%)

Globalisation can be both a threat and an opportunity. In recent years, the total number of people employed in manufacturing was approximately 442,000. Of this, a considerable 235,000 were employed by foreign owned companies and were worth €32 billion worth of exports by actual Irish firms. The presence and dominance of so many foreign owned companies can be a great concern as they expose Ireland to all sorts of fluctuations, both positive and negative, in the global economy. Similarly, Irelands increased dependence on other economies, particularly North America for our economic growth can be risky even at the best of times. Any changes, good or bad, can have massive implications

Finally, Ireland is highly compatible with other developed countries as we have now shifted the majority of our attention towards knowledge industries and away from the more traditional labour-intensive sectors