THE MAN who coined the term “Celtic Tiger” said at the MacGill Summer School yesterday he had mixed feelings about being first to come up with the expression.
Kevin Gardiner used it as the title of an essay which was part of a report on the Irish stock market published in August 1994 by the Morgan Stanley investment bank.
Now with the Barclays Group, Mr Gardiner said that, as a Welshman, he was initially concerned Irish people might have sensitivities over being described as “Celtic”. Asked whether he was sorry he had used the phrase, he said: “No, I’m sorry that it took on quite the life that it did. Sometimes these cliches and phrases can be a substitute for considered analysis and thought.”
It had been a lesson in the way such phrases could take on a life of their own: “I have mixed feelings about that.” He was pleased he had identified the manner in which the Irish economy was developing at the time: “You don’t get to make very many calls like that during a working lifetime.” He remains optimistic about Ireland’s prospects even now: “I would say, yes, the glass is half-full for me rather than half-empty.”
