"Most peoples perception of Ireland is the stereotypical, bumbling, backward " I think with Intel, Pfizer, ADI etc here for so long, as well as cutting-edge re

"Most peoples perception of Ireland is the stereotypical, bumbling, backward " I think with Intel, Pfizer, ADI etc here for so long, as well as cutting-edge research from our universities, that image has come and gone. The new perception is of a yet another financially incompetent nation needing German handouts. ;) "yet the one thing our nation tends to respond well to is technology" I have to disagree. I think it is a miracle that we have have any hi-tech industry at all. Our telecommunications infrastructure is a joke and we are only now catching up to where we should have been 10+ years ago. The privatisation of Telecom Eireann was a huge mistake and the lack of investment in broadband for over a decade shows that sucessive governments hadn't a clue when it came to technology. And don't even get me started on our education system....