To be sure, to be sure

Thomas Friedman on how consensus between government, unions, farmers and industrialists delivered the Irish miracle.

Ireland's advice is simple: make high school and university education free; make corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labour and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps - and you, too, can become one of the richest nations in Europe.