英国脱欧，这个国家居然成了最大赢家

帕特里克·沃尔什到了1899年以来就基本没什么变化的Grogan’s Castle Lounge酒吧，原因就是他相信这里不会变。这间酒吧只收现金，既没有电视，也没有音乐，Wi-Fi更是想都不用想。沃尔什创立了Dogpatch Labs，这个孵化器被哈里王子等人誉为都柏林的硅救世主。沃尔什则把这间酒吧称为真实的绿洲以及真实的晴雨表。

沃尔什说：“我们不知道怎么致富。”他说盖尔语祝酒词“Is fearr an tsláinte ná na táinte”翻译过来就是“祝健康而非富有”。他既骄傲又悲伤地说到：“我们基本上不知道怎么成为欧洲人，我们自成一派。”

和许多把都柏林当成家的科技创业者一样，沃尔什见过爱尔兰经济的兴衰。他的办公室设在港区，一些人将其称为“数字港区”。从沃尔什上班的地方走不了多远就是爱彼迎、Facebook、谷歌和推特的所在地，距摩根大通、摩根士丹利和花旗集团也仅有几步之遥。就着健力士黑啤吃下火腿奶酪烤三明治后，沃尔什告诉我一条历史教训：“这里还是英国据点时，他们不断地压缩爱尔兰语区。他们把都柏林和整个这一片叫做Pale。这里是有道墙的。真正可敬的英国人能做的最糟糕的事就是走过那道墙，走到Pale外面。那可不安全。”

想到爱尔兰最近的好运，沃尔什笑了起来。他说：“现在我们已经超出Pale了，不是吗。我们可得当心，要握紧自己的帽子。”他扬起眉毛，举起酒杯，顺势喝了一口，然后咧嘴笑道：“不过，嘿，我们都有帽子。”（财富中文网）

本文原载于2019年3月出版的《财富》杂志。

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

Patrick Walsh comes to Grogan’s Castle Lounge, largely locked in amber in Dublin since 1899, precisely because he’s confident that it hasn’t changed. It’s cash only. There’s neither television nor music, and don’t even think about asking for Wi-Fi. Walsh, the founder of Dogpatch Labs, an incubator touted as the silicon savior of the city by the likes of Prince Harry himself, calls it an oasis of authenticity—and a barometer of it too.

“We don’t know how to be rich,” Walsh says, noting that the Gaelic toast “Is fearr an tsláinte ná na táinte” translates as “To health not wealth.” He adds with equal parts pride and woe: “We barely know how to be European. We’re kind of our own thing.”

Like many tech entrepreneurs who call Dublin home, Walsh has seen the ups and downs of Ireland’s economy. His office in the city’s Docklands district—the “Digital Docklands” to some—is a short walk to outposts for Airbnb, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. It’s also steps away from JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup. Washing down bites of a ham-and-cheese toastie with Guinness, Walsh offers a history lesson: “When this was all a British stronghold and they were pushing back the Gaeltacht”—the areas where the Irish language took primacy—“they called Dublin and this whole area the Pale. There’s a wall! And the worst thing a right honorable Englishman could do was go beyond that wall—beyond the Pale. It wasn’t safe.”

Walsh considers Ireland’s recent fortunes and laughs. “We’re beyond the pale now, aren’t we? Time to hold on to our hats,” he says. He raises his eyebrows, spirits, and pint in one fluid move, then grins. “But hey—we’ve got hats.”

This article originally appeared in the March 2019 issue of Fortune.