Vincent O’Sullivan and I have some thoughts on the issue for VoxEU here.
Month: December 2011
Senator Sean Barrett has been working away in the Seanad on a fiscal responsibility bill to interlock with our other EU/IMF commitments. The government has responded to Senator Barrett’s bill here, it’s worthwhile having a read of this together with the contributions by Karl and Colm on this site.
A draft of the proposed Treaty has been released. I think we should be very very slow to look to put this to a referendum, if such is required (and it probably is). Many things may happen in the meantime that could derail this particular process.
In the meantime, our leaders should stop making up exciting scenarios involving Ireland leaving the euro if a treaty is rejected. That Stephen Collins vehemently disagrees with this only strengthens my conviction on this point.
From the Irish Times:
THE GOVERNMENT has quietly downgraded its campaign to persuade the European Central Bank to change the terms of the €30 billion of promissory notes it issued to bail out Anglo Irish Bank, according to an authoritative Government source.
The efforts by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to seek a reduction from the ECB in the 8.2 per cent interest rates being charged on the notes or extend the term of the loan has not really worked, said the source.
I suspect most of us can think of other euphemisms for “quiet downgrading”.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
The quarterly national accounts are out, and it is not pretty. The domestic economy has contracted, quarter on quarter, by 2.2%. Things look even worse when looking at the components of GNP. From the report:
Personal Consumption (-1.3%), Government expenditure (-1.3%), Fixed Investment (-20.9%) and Imports (-1.5%) decreased on a seasonally adjusted constant price basis between Q2 and Q3 2011 while Exports (+0.8%) increased over the same period.
You can see the change in the figure below for GDP and GNP. Combined with the unemployment figures Kevin highlighted earlier this week, the picture is far from good heading into the holiday season.
Luckily we have the omnipresent Little Mix to cheer us up. I’ve heard the, ahem, song, 5 times already this morning. And I feel much, much better about things. Really.