The Irish Economy

Anyone left in any doubt as to which of the outside parties was calling the shots in setting the terms of the EU-IMF agreement should consider checking out the clip from last night’s Week in Politics show. About two minutes in, there is a clip of Green Party TD Trevor Sargent discussing the decision to cut the minimum wage with a protestor. Sargent tells the protestor to take it up with Olli Rehn and that it was the EU, and not the IMF, that insisted on the cut in the minimum wage.

I’m just back from spending a few days at the McGill Summer School in Donegal.  Joe Mulholland is to be commended for having put together a very interesting line-up of speakers and I very much enjoyed my couple of days there.

One strange aspect of the McGill event, however, has been the media coverage.  Judging from newspaper front pages, one would conclude that the sessions involved heated discussions about proposals to cut the minimum wage.  In fact, this was not the case.

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