Mixed Signals
Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise
Friday 10 August 2001, 6:27 PM
Rupert Goodwins' Diary
Thursday 9/8/2001
Amid thunderstorms, torrential rain and lightning, Gateway announces that it will probably close its Irish and British subsidiaries. For the watchers of signs and the scryers of portents in the UK, that's bad news -- even if Gateway has been doing much worse than its immediate competitors. But for Ireland, it's a real horror show.
I talk to a Dublin pal, who reports widespread fear that the Celtic Tiger is about to prove itself a shabby old cloth cat and unravel at speed. Dublin's property market, which has been out-exploding London by a considerable margin, is falling apart at the seams, and highly qualified and motivated new technology experts (e.g., my Dublin pal) are drawing a blank on the job front. The Gateway announcement has not been welcomed at all.
Expect more of this, in Ireland and the UK. While inward investment is always welcome, it's an odd company that doesn't react to serious problems by protecting its core business -- and with inward investors, that core business is always elsewhere. There's no substitute for indigenous manufacturing and services if you want stability in the jobs market.
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