by Dara Doyle and Finbarr Flynn of Bloomberg
Among his supporters in the southwest of Ireland, lawmaker Jackie Healy-Rae is known as the “Sugar Daddy” for championing his region. Now Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen may depend on his former political ally to pass next year’s budget and keep international patrons sweet.
The government will lay out details tomorrow of 6 billion euros ($7.9 billion) of spending cuts and tax increases. Cowen’s Fianna Fail party has a minority of seats in parliament and may need the backing of independents such as Healy-Rae and Michael Lowry. They have yet to declare support for the budget.
The 67 billion-euro aid package Ireland sought from the European Union and International Monetary Fund depends on the passing of the budget. A collapse of the Irish rescue accord might reignite the euro region’s sovereign debt crisis and the contagion that swept across Europe last week, pushing the euro down to a 10-week low against the dollar and pummeling Italian, Belgian and Spanish government bonds.
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