Reply to: Ireland in danger of collapse

[norrahe]

I should be sticking up for my home country.....

But...

Aside from the guinness and good food, Ireland has been getting handouts from the EU for any major developments. It is heavily reliant on foreign investment.

There is very little sustainable home industry.

House prices are in some places more expensive than over here.

In the current crisis, they are setting themselves up for a major fall and are looking for bailout from the IMF.

Looks like the celtic tiger has had his day!

[tim123]

It was at one point kicking off the massive and unsustainable boom but I don't think so now. East Europe are our new charities.

I can't speak for any other sector, but Ireland has a (very expensive) ten year plan to improve its railways, 90% of which they are expecting you and I to pay for.

tim

[tim123]

Good whiskey, good breakfasts, a good rugby team, very good universities, talented salespeople (gift of the gab), fascinating geology and fantastic landscapes. They have a good sense of humour too, and I fear they’re going to need it.

Only the first actually makes the country any money, and that, not much

tim

[Cyberman]

This could have been Britain. Be grateful !!!!

[sasguru]

You guys are so ignorant. Ireland is a booming, dynamic economy with no problems at all. AtW said so, so it must be true.

[minestrone]

What kind of threat is that? Isn't Ireland hugely subsidised by the EU?

It was at one point kicking off the massive and unsustainable boom but I don't think so now. East Europe are our new charities.

Never one to miss a trick the EU were handing out massive grants to build hotels in Ireland, there were loads of 10 bedroom hotels built which turned into very nice houses a few months after they were finished.

I’m sure the Irish joining the Eurozone during the boom was great for the Irish but now it’s all going tits up they are nothing more than a leprechaun chained to a drowning white elephant.

[cailin maith]

Aside from low corp tax and a housing boom, did Ireland ever really have anything going for it?

Back to growing potatoes they go, let's just hope they've got a bit better at it

Yummmmm potatoes.....

[Mich the Tester]

consistently over-rated

and underestimed at one's peril

[TimberWolf]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/g...ist-warns.html

Help Ireland or it will exit euro, economist warns... A leading Irish economist has called on Dublin to threaten withdrawal from the euro unless Europe's big powers do more to rescue Ireland's economy.

What kind of threat is that? Isn't Ireland hugely subsidised by the EU?

[cailin maith]

consistently over-rated

[BrilloPad]

consistently over-rated

WHS. When was the last time they won a grand slam? was it the 1920s or something?

Just googled and seems they only ever won one - in 1948!

[oracleslave]

Good whiskey, good breakfasts, a good rugby team, very good universities, talented salespeople (gift of the gab), fascinating geology and fantastic landscapes. They have a good sense of humour too, and I fear they’re going to need it.

consistently over-rated

[Mich the Tester]

Aside from low corp tax and a housing boom, did Ireland ever really have anything going for it?

Good whiskey, good breakfasts, a good rugby team, very good universities, talented salespeople (gift of the gab), fascinating geology and fantastic landscapes. They have a good sense of humour too, and I fear they’re going to need it.

[DiscoStu]

Aside from low corp tax and a housing boom, did Ireland ever really have anything going for it?

Back to growing potatoes they go, let's just hope they've got a bit better at it

[BrilloPad]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/g...ist-warns.html

Help Ireland or it will exit euro, economist warns
A leading Irish economist has called on Dublin to threaten withdrawal from the euro unless Europe's big powers do more to rescue Ireland's economy.

"This is war: countries have to defend themselves," said David McWilliams, a former official at the Irish central bank.

"It is essential that we go to Europe and say we have a serious problem. We say, either we default or we pull out of Europe," he told RTE radio.

"If Ireland continues hurtling down this road, which is close to default, the whole of Europe will be badly affected. The credibility of the euro will be badly affected. Then Spain might default, Italy and Greece," he said.

Mr McWilliams, a former UBS director and now prominent broadcaster, has broken the ultimate taboo by evoking threats to precipitate an EMU crisis, which would risk a chain reaction across the eurozone's southern belt, where yield spreads on state bonds are already flashing warning signals. The comments reflect growing bitterness in Dublin over the way the country has been treated after voting against the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

"If we have a single currency there are obligations and responsibilities on both sides. The idea that Germany and France can just hang us out to dry, as has been the talk in the last couple of days should not be taken lying down," he said.

Mr McWilliams cited the example of New York's threat to default in 1975. President Gerald Ford "blinked" at the 11th hour and backed a bail-out to prevent broader damage.

As yet, there is no public support for withdrawal from the euro. A Quantum poll published by the Irish Independent yesterday found that 97pc reject such a radical move. Three-quarters are in favour of a national government, an idea floated by Unilever's ex-chief Niall Fitzgerald.

"The economic disaster we are facing is unlike anything which has happened in my lifetime. It is a national crisis and needs a government of national unity," Mr Fitzgerald said.

Mr McWilliams said EMU was preventing Irish recovery. "The only way we can win this war is by becoming, once again, an export country. We can do what we are doing now, which is to reduce our wages, throw more people on the dole and suffer a long contraction. The other model is what the British are doing. Britain is letting sterling fall so that the problem becomes someone else's. But we, of course, have ruled this out by our euro membership.

"We are paying twice for the euro: once on the exchange rate and once more on the interest rate," he said.

"By keeping with the current policy, the state is ensuring that Ireland turns itself into a large debt-repayment machine. Is this the sort of strategy to win wars? " he said.