Has the once-ferocious Celtic Tiger finally been tamed? After a two-decade boom, Ireland's heady days of double-digit growth appear to be over. This $115 billion economy, which is heavily dependent on agriculture, technology, and tourism, has endured a series of plagues in the last few years: mad cow, foot-and-mouth disease, the post-September 11 travel slump, and the bursting of the tech bubble. Growth is slated to drop to 3% this year, and analysts don't expect it to climb above 5% for the rest of the decade: A rate of 9% or more was once the norm. "Ireland is going through a very significant slowdown," says Robert Watt, senior economist at Idecon International Economic Consultants in Dublin.
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