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Ireland is a country constituted by two nation-states. Northern Ireland consists of six counties of the province of Ulster and is part of the United Kingdom. The television service provided in its broadcast area is that of the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV. The local member of the ITV network is Ulster Television which acts both as a broadcaster of the ITV service and produces programs for inclusion in the local transmission of the service. Ireland, sometimes known as Eire, is an independent republic and consists of the remaining 26 counties of the country. Irish television is here considered as that television service that obtains in the republic although, as will become clear, the British service has a strong determining role on the Irish service.

Over the 1991 to 2005 period, there was a 5 per cent increase in the proportion of manufacturing plants in Ireland performing product innovation. Over the same period however, process innovation activity declined by 7 per cent. These changes have contributed to a convergence in innovation activity between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Indeed, manufacturing plants in NI are now more likely to be undertaking process innovation than plants in Ireland.

Ireland was one of the early and enthusiastic members of the European Monetary System in 1979, which brought much needed macroeconomic stability. Membership of the eurozone in 1999 led to lower interest rates, which have contributed to the economic growth ever since. Low corporate tax rates certainly helped Ireland attract foreign investors. But never forget that Ireland is also the only English-speaking member of the eurozone, the one place where eurozone and Anglosphere meet.

Ireland owes its success to a complex set of policies and circumstances. Perhaps among the most important were the various tripartite social partnership agreements since 1987, through which the government, employers and the trade unions achieved a combination of wage moderation, high employment and low taxes. This form of round-table corporatism works best in tiny open economies if it works at all. It is ironic that this country, whose officials take pleasure in hectoring others on free-market economics, is in fact one of Europe  most corporatist states.