The economic treason was committed primarily by Fianna Fail who provided the unlimited bailout to the zombie banks in the first place, vocally supported by Fine Gael and Sinn Fein at the time.

Unfortunately the organisations currently funding a large chunk of our health and education services want this money paid back, so Ireland isn’t accused of default. And if these organisations weren’t funding Ireland then our health and education services would be in a far worse position.

Right Desmond. Fianna Fáil did sign the death warrant but FG/Labour are doing the killing? Get real.

We don’t have to remind you of Labour’s way or Frankfurt’s way again, do we?

Or Leo ‘not another red cent to anglo’ Varadkar. How many red cents in €3.1 Billion??

Réada … It was Fianna fail, supported by fine Gael and Sinn Fein, who saddled us with this catastrophic debt and which precipitated the eu/IMF bailouts. Labour was the only party to consistently oppose this madness. Having been saddled with this debt and with the straitjacket of the Troika programme, this state has lost its economic sovereignty. Oh, the irony of the three nationalist parties donning the green jersey in order to sell out this country’s independence.

There is no credible alternative to operating within the terms of the Troika programme. Default is a fool’s proposal.

As a lifelong Labour voter Desmond I sympathise with you. Always voted labour although would have preferred candidates further to the left. Did so because I knew Labour was as left as my fellow conservative citizens could handle and thought they’d be our best chance. But they’ve let me down twice too often.

I know that they were alone in opposing the bank guarantee but they’re certainly rowing in behind it now. I do like the way I can read Gilmore like a book though and his “between the lines” comments re threats from Europe and further afield have been noted.

But I am sincere when I say you have my sympathies. Give it up tho Desmond. It’s a dead horse. Eamon doesn’t have the political courage to stick to his principles.

Just to spell it out for you – even if there had been no bank bailout there would still be austerity and cut backs in spending. Why? Because more than half of the bailout is being used to plug the gap between the tax take and government spending. So what you describe would be happening anyway.

So very very true and the next payment will be part paid from the Household Charge/water charge/ Septic tank

If there was no bank bailout, the state’s debt was so low that we could tolerate the deficits initially and grow our economy out over a few years. The gap in tax and spending right now apart from the bank items, is relatively small and manageable at about 6 bililon(have a goo at the December Exchequer figures), and that can be explained by an economy suffering from a strike of investment ie no investment because the austerity is shredding the economy. Despite loading the banks with our cash, they’re not investing it, they’re hoarding it(because they understand what austerity means) and they’re actually reposessing the homes of the people that are bailing them out! This is and always has been a banking crisis, dressed up as something else to share the cost.

Of course the mathematical/economical side pales into insignificance when we take into account the immorality of it all. What’s wrong is wrong is wrong.

And your alternative …….. D – E – F – A – U – L – T which would mean the ending of imf/eu financial support our public finances the collapse of our public services, choking off of funds for our remaining banks and an economic winter the likes none of us have experienced before. Now that’s the real definition of TREASON.

Perhaps because the Irish people haven’t.

Past tense??? I hope you’ll be even happier when it’s abolished.