For starters, unlike most countries its GDP is much higher than its GNP, because so much of its production is foreign-owned and repatriated abroad.  Irish politicians brag about GDP when running for re-election but use the lower GNP when asking for EU subsidies.

Second, Ireland has also outperformed the USA and the UK, two other countries favored by neoliberals.  So there is something else, specific to it, that is at play here.  The UK and US have not outperformed Scandinavia, and in the Bush era the US has underperformed Canada, the UK, and Scandinavia.