Just a note on the references to the Republic of Ireland, yes they are going through severely bad times. I can't claim to know the details (I'm in Northern Ireland) however their issues are solely and completely down to the spectacular collapse of a construction industry caught up in an absurd bubble, itself inflated exponentially by a recklessly speculative banking industry - the biggest offender being the Anglo Irish bank.
That said, they are the first of the rescued EU nations to technically exit their bailout and do have a strong presence from some very large, modern businesses attracted by a very low corporate tax rate (in Northern Ireland we have been begging Westminster for years to align our own corporate tax with the South).
Ireland will recover and are actually a decent model to aspire toward - notwithstanding the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and property market collapse.
Yes the normal working people have had massive additional taxes in recent years to sort out the mess (I know many personally) and the perennial emigration problem has gotten worse but know this, jobseekers allowance for over 26 year old in the Republic of Ireland is €188 per week. Families have been feeling the squeeze but last summer I drove from Belfast to the south coast (averaged 36mpg by the way!) and there wasn't a sniff of recession about the place.