[NT73]

"Just fasten this strap, and then I will light the blue touch paper."

[Pat]

Thirty years ago, Ireland was a Third World country, viewed through the same "do-they-have-indoor-plumbing-yet?" prism that the moderately well-informed observer of today might apply to, say, Paraguay or Malawi. Ireland tended to evoke images of potatoes, IRA bombs, and town drunks named Paddy. Today, Ireland is one of the world's wealthiest countries since its economy has grown nearly five-fold since 1973. It boasts one of the world's highest levels of GDP per capita, some 20 percent above the European average—while 30 years ago it was 35 percent poorer than the average.

enough said

[NT73]

All right I give in. Its an Australian disguised as an Irishman.