Peter Sutherland makes the case for rethinking Ireland’s bailout deal here.
Category: Uncategorized
The FT Analysis page explains the opposition of some Northern European politicians to bailouts in this article.
The FT reports on “austerity fatigue” in Greece in this article.
I heard one of the new TDs on the radio, repeating that well-practiced line about Irish government expenditures/entitlements not really being excessive, since “Ireland is one of the richest countries in Europe.” That was then, this is now (from the Sunday Business Post). Using GNP as a metric, Ireland’s per capita income ranking has fallen sharply, back to where it was prior to the 1990s boom, among the five poorest (or least-rich) countries in western Europe. The Irish government and banking sector are also in receivership, and are dependent upon a recalcitrant EU benefactor. So please, TDs and interest group lobbyists, no more about how we can afford your favourite expenditure since we are one of the richest countries in Europe.
Kevin O’Rourke – one of our leading academics and a frequent contributor to this blog – is to leave Ireland to take up a Chair at Oxford. I use ‘leading academic’ to mean one whose works will still be known a hundred years from now; this applies at the very least to his superb 2007 book with Ron Findlay – Power and Plenty: Trade, War and the World Economy in the Second Millennium. How many people could even dream of writing, never mind complete so successfully, a history of 1,000 years of world trade? Also ar an mbád bán – go Meiriceá – is another leading Irish academic, Declan Kiberd, Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at UCD. Best of luck to them both.