Once among the least developed Western economies, with high levels of emigration, since 2003 Ireland has enjoyed the third highest per capita GDP in OECD Europe (Figure 6.1).1 The growing economy attracted an inflow of foreign workers, the unemployment rate was 4.7% in 2007, below the OECD average. In the first half of the 2000s, large public sector deficits were transformed into substantial surpluses and the ratio of national debt to GNP was greatly reduced, while the tax-to-GDP ratio remained low (31.9% of GDP in 2006, compared with an OECD Europe average of 38%). The combination of a low corporate tax (12.5%), state grants and access to the European single market boosted foreign direct investment.