The man credited with inventing the phrase "Celtic Tiger" believes the creature is not dead, but sleeping.

Kevin Gardiner , now an investment strategist with Barclays Wealth, said Ireland could not expect, and did not need, to grow at the rapid pace of the 1990s, but the conditions which created its success still remained.

"We wrote that report for Morgan Stanley back in 1994, which is a long time ago. Property was not even part of the picture then," he said yesterday.

"It was clear that Ireland had an attractive tax regime, a flexible and highly educated workforce, and one which spoke English, which is very attractive to US companies. In fact, the period of high growth went on for longer than we might have expected -- seven years or so."

While Ireland is more expensive than 15 years ago, it still has many potential advantages, he said. "A lot of those basic policies remain. We expect to see world trade revive and flows of foreign direct investment to resume.

"We think Ireland can receive more than its share of those flows, although it does have to move up the value chain. But that is already happening in financial services, in areas such as insurance.

"One cannot predict the timing of a return to strong growth, although I think it will be slow in Ireland, because of the budgetary difficulties. But even after the crash, Ireland is much wealthier than in 1994."

Source: www.independent.ie