What is going on across the Irish Sea beggars description and is largely hidden from our gaze. For this reason I try to paint the picture so that all readers can appreciate the sheer scale of the collapse of civilisation that we have come to take for granted.
Unless we are very lucky or we can somehow get rid of Brown this kind of fate could be in store for us.
Christina
[Based on Ireland’s p[opulation being around 1/15th of Britain’s and the Euro on €1.16 -£1, I give suggested equivalents for Britain if these draconian measures applied here]
GUARDIAN
21.7.09
Ireland told to cut €5bn [=£65bn equivalent] from public spending
More than 17,000 government jobs [255,000 UK equivalent] must go, says expert panel, as it announces measures to plug black hole in finances
• Henry McDonald, Ireland correpondent
Ireland needs to cut more than €5bn (£4.3bn) from its budget and more than 17,000 public sector jobs to save the republic's ailing economy, a government report has recommended.
An Bord Snip Nua, the Irish government's cost-cutting panel, has called for brutal measures to drive down public expenditure.
Its chairman, economist Dr Colm McCarthy of University College Dublin, yesterday also demanded a 5% reduction in social welfare payments to achieve savings of €850m.[[£11 bn UK equivalent]
The demand for swingeing cuts reflects the parlous state of the former Celtic tiger economy, which is expected to suffer an 11% downturn in GDP this year [UK -4.5%] . There are also fears among some economists that Ireland's unemployment rate could hit half a million by the end of 2009. [[7.5 million UK equivalent]
The board said that €513m [[£6.6 bn UK equivalent] could be saved by reducing and standardising the state's child benefit rate, cutting the €2.5bn cost of the programme [[£28.4 bn UK equivalent] by 20%. Ireland still has one of the most generous welfare systems in the European Union.
Ireland's health and education sectors would bear most of the cuts, with 6,930 jobs [[103,000 UK equivalent] to go in the education system and 6,168 jobs in health. [[93,000 UK equivalent]
McCarthy said the reductions could be achieved without compulsory redundancies, saying a recruitment embargo, retirements and an existing voluntary redundancy scheme could be used.
He said the Irish trade union movement would have to agree to changes that would allow the redeployment of staff between government departments and other parts of the public sector.
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