The Irish Economy

I must admit that I enjoy reading the economic columns of David McWilliams. Whereas I do not generally agree with him with respect to the fine detail implications of his proposals, he invariably however manages to make interesting suggestions assisting valuable reflection. In this morning’s Sunday Business Post article, he addresses the present situation in Iceland, where apparently interest rates on long term bonds have now fallen below corresponding recent - and still rising - rates in Ireland. And given that a short time ago Iceland was looked on as the undisputed financial basket case of Europe, this indeed is a disturbing revelation. One has to admire the resilience of the Icelanders in dealing with their problems. Though they did require IMF assistance, they refused to bail out their banks with the losses therefore falling on depositors and lenders (rather than as in Ireland on the shareholders). Also in allowing depreciation of their currency, they have thereby managed to

It is now some months since I last wrote regarding the Irish banking crisis and unfortunately the situation has worsened since then with debts accumulating at an even faster rate than previously expected. Also because of our accompanying severe fiscal crisis, international confidence has steadily receded. This in turn has led to sharply rising interest rates in the bond markets, which could yet prove a vital tipping point for the economy. Realistically speaking, there is no easy solution to our problems. The present Government lacks true legitimacy (with Fianna Fail having presided over the very crisis that it is now trying to solve). However there is little reason to suggest that the main opposition parties would bring about any real improvement. A new Government is likely to entail a coalition arrangement of Fine Gael and Labour. Enda Kenny the leader of FG and - likely - larger party after the next election is thereby in line to become Taoiseach. However he seems to lack suffic