Journalist to address environmental consequences of Ireland’s economic boom

Morgantown, WV, March 14, 2006: Frank McDonald, environment editor of The Irish Times, will speak next week about the “ Celtic Tiger” economic boom and its unintended consequences for Ireland’s culture and environment.

“How Ireland Has Handled Being Rich” will be Tuesday, March 20 at 3 p.m. in the Mountainlair’s Mountaineer Room on WVU’s Downtown Campus. The event is free and open to the public. A light reception with coffee and refreshments will follow the presentation.

Until the early 1990s, Ireland was one of Europe’s poorest nations. Its so-called “Celtic Tiger” economy has now transformed it into one of world’s richest countries, with a GDP per capita that is higher than Britain’s. The unforeseen costs of this new-found prosperity include high levels of immigration, urban sprawl, and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Frank McDonald is from Dublin, Ireland, and now lives in Temple Bar, the city’s cultural quarter. He currently serves as environment editor at The Irish Times, having been one of the newspaper’s environmental correspondents since 1986. He is the author of several books, including The Destruction of Dublin and Saving the City, two books that helped to change Irish public policy on urban renewal. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctor of philosophy degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology. He is also a founding member and “Writer in Residence” of the Academy of Urbanism of Great Britain and Ireland.

The event is co-sponsored by WVU’s Institute for Public Affairs, housed in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, and the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism.

For more information, please contact Kevin Leyden, Director of the Institute for Public Affairs, at 304-293-5432, or at Kevin.Leyden@mail.wvu.edu.

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