Well the do have the right to abandon the troika bailout. Obviously they wouldn’t be able to borrow on the markets, so they’d then have the right to cut out the budget deficit overnight – cue protests and massive, massive unemployment but sure at least the government would have the right to do things.

Great to see the usual Irish “optimism”

a.k.a realism…. just saying ;)

Savings….do people have savings???

Niamh & ray,
When economists mention “savings” these days they are usually referring to retained earnings. Not the savings of ordinary people

Why does it frighten you? How much worse could they do that the current crowd of puppets?

Very true Adam. That’s why the government need to win the argument that the €2bn raised from the sale of state assets needs to go into a kind of stimulus package e.g. the NewERA plan.

I don’t see joining the commonwealth as a realistic option nor do I think it would boost much trade for Ireland or any hope of economic recovery. Leaving the euro would be a massive undertaking with huge implications for Gov, banks and large and small organisations in this country. Kiss goodbye the idea of any foreign travel for 1at least 24 moths (even NI will seem as expensive as Dubai), want a tv/car/camera/phone? Good luck paying for it with a useless and worthless punt. ECB funding for our banks would be cut, some would probably fail, new IMF bailout and god only knows what the terms of that might be.

At this stage I think we have potentially more to lose than gain by not repaying remaining bondholders, Noonan missed the boat on that one, and early exit of the Euro (and perhaps forced expulsion from the EU) will cause unknown consequences for us and the remaining Eurozone. Either way there’s plenty of unnerving times ahead.

I keep hearing this suggestion and have no idea where it’s coming from. The commonwealth is not remotely similar to the EU. It’s not a single market, not a currency union, not an economic union.

Do people not realise if we leave the EU the days of easy migration and customs-free trade to Spain, France, Germany etc. will be gone?

It would not make sense to replace one dysfunctional fiat currency for another (ie. euro for punt).
We need to think outside the box with respect to currency.
Some commentators have pointed to a 38/40 year cycle in currency life span (ie. 40 years since the gold standard was abolished, 40 years after Bretton woods) Therefore, we are due a replacement of our currency systems.
In addition, we need not rely only on the state to issue currency.
http://pair.offshore.ai/38yearcycle/

“We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”

Here here, there is plenty of options to get refinanced by other countries China,Brazil, Russia and other emerging markets. It would be better to take all the pain at once and emerge in a couple of years with our soverignty intact and our assets secured like Iceland. Our assets are worth trillions like our gas reserves that our estimated by petroleum geologists to be the biggest in the world, our wind and solar energy and our farming which will be huge with the onslaught of climate change. All these reasons are why the IMF are here so they can sell them to their techocrats friends 4 a song. Its not that hard to work out.

@ Derek: So instead of the German Parliament looking at our budget, the Chinese Communist party would be instead? Getting any sort of financing from outside the country means some loss of economic sovereignty as those who lent the money want to ensure its spent wisely.

It took us long enough to gain independence from the commonwealth why would we re join them.Are you not Irish?I am and proud of it

He may as well enjoy the glory of the budget , as it will be his last one !!

I think you were right first time !

This has been asked quite a few times over the past week, by myself too.

I’ll see if I can get someone more knowledgeable to write about it – there’s clearly massive demand for debate about it.

Off the top of my head, Ray, they wouldn’t have us – not with the level of debt we’d be bringing with us, which would almost immediately be pooled with Britain’s smaller (proportionately) debt levels.

It would almost certainly be a given that if we returned to a Punt Nua, however, that we would at least peg our currency to sterling: the danger of leaving a currency and devaluing straight away means that your domestic savings become less valuable. If we were back on our own, we would be 99% sure to peg the currency to the pound (as we did for all but 25 years of the old punt!) so that we would have some kind of price stability with the North and with Britain,

As per Daniel’s suggestion, I’ll see if we can get someone more knowledgeable to write a Read Me piece about it…

We should give Ireland back to the British and apologize for the state it’s in — Brendan Behan

God damn. The comments on this site make me fear for the future of humanity.

Yeah, the German troops are massing to take control of Ballyhaunis.

Christ, too many Victor and Warlord comics being read in people’s youth. The troika are signing 4bn euro checks every couple of months. They want to know where their money is going.

As long as Ireland is borrowing then it’s not in control. Even if we get back into the bond markets we will be at their mercy instead. Look at what they could do to Italy.

At least maybe that would stop the Nazi/WW2 references on this site though. People could just give out about the bond markets in Wall Steet instead.

Not a word of it Eamonn … SF have said they will not pay ANY unsecured debt… How the hell is that defaulting. Many respected economists have said that we need to do this. Following FF/FG/Labour strategy will destroy our economy (it already well on track to do this). SF are offering real solutions to the problem. They do not want to leave the Euro, they do not want to raise any income taxes (through stealth or otherwise like the current shower), for anyone earning less than 100k per year. They will raise income tax by 2% on all those earning over 100k per year. They also want to restrict public sector wages to a max of 100k per year. The IMF did this in Latvia and now Latvia has one of the fastest growing econmies in Europe. Its uneducated or misinformed folks that cant see the woods for the trees and slam SF’s policies without even reading them.

Deposits will continue to flow out whilst interest rates are kept artificially low by government bullying of the Banks.

We cannot keep mortgage rates low and pay attractive deposit rates at the sme time.

@ Sheelagh: The thing is Angela may have the support of other European leaders, but she also needs to win domestic political support which is where the problem lies. Many German’s want a return to the Deutschmark themselves (60% according to recent polls) however the new Deutschmark would be much stronger and would put Germany at a trade disadvantage – hence the lack of support among German politicians and economists for a return to the mark.

I agree. The moderator should remove all comments with references to nazis.
So far the only comments I have read on this article with references to it have been from people telling others to shut up and stop complaining about the mess we are in.

I would politely like to request that I am not included in that “we”.
I have never borrowed ANYTHING.
The closest I come to borrowing is using my credit card and that is paid off within a couple of weeks so that I don’t have to pay interest..
I have no car, no loans, no mortgage.. Because I was ill during the boom and had NOTHING. I have become self employed but that’s seriously dodgy territory with the country the way it is.

Maybe other people borrowed too much, or were lavish with their spending. I wasn’t. I’m still paying the price though aren’t I?