Ireland has been ranked as the best country in the world to do business in.
That's according to a report by leading US financial magazine Forbes, which praises Ireland for our low corporation tax, protection of investors and stock market performance.
Forbes also says Ireland's financial crisis makes us "more attractive" for multinationals - giving rise to low wage costs and a large pool of workers.
Ireland's rise to the top spot of the Forbes rankings from 6th place last year puts us ahead of New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Scandanavian economies rounding out the top five.
The magazine praises Ireland for maintaining an "extremely pro-business environment" - noting that we're the only nation to rank among the top 15%t in every one of the criteria used to gauge the best countries - including low tax burden, investor protection and personal freedom.
It says our improved performance owes a lot to a stock market, which Forbes describes as being "on fire" - with the best return over the past 12 months of any of the top 30.
However, the key to Ireland's ranking is all about foreign investment - namely our 12.5% corporation tax rate, an educated workforce and a common language.
It notes that US firms invested $130 billion in Ireland between 2008 and 2012 - more than over the past 58 years combined.
Forbes also contends the financial crisis is seen as a good thing - highlighting falling wages and our "stubbornly high rate of unemployment" at 12.5% which effectively means there is a large labour pool to hire from.
