Telegraph View The governor of Ireland's central bank, Patrick Honohan, said yesterday that he expected the country to accept a bail-out worth tens of billions of euros from the EU and the IMF. This "large loan", as he accurately described it, would enable Ireland to show the world that it had "sufficient firepower to deal with any concerns of the market". Actually, what the proposed loan demonstrates is that Ireland is losing its sovereignty, a painful prospect indeed for such a proud nation. Hence an extraordinary editorial in yesterday's Irish Times, asking whether "this is what the men of 1916 died for", and bewailing Ireland's "shameful" loss of independence. Although no final decision has been reached, the republic is clearly moving towards accepting funds that will stabilise the Irish banking system, now inextricably connected to the state. "Substantial" was another adjective used by Mr Honohan to describe the sum of money yesterday – and who can disagree? The loans will be equal to 80 per cent of Irish GDP. Whether this situation is "shameful" is a matter of opinion; but it was certainly predictable. Twenty years ago, Eurosceptics argued that Britain would lose its sovereignty in just this fashion if it was foolhardy enough to join a single currency. We kept out, which meant that, when the time came to administer nasty medicine to our economy, at least the prescription was written in Westminster rather than Brussels – and at a time of our choosing. Ireland, in contrast, is being pushed by the EU into a rescue deal earlier than is strictly necessary, in order to stop the contagion of bad debt spreading to Portugal and Spain. Greece, meanwhile, has had its economic powers confiscated and is now an EU protectorate. Ireland will not suffer quite that indignity if the bail-out goes ahead, but it will come under pressure to raise the low corporation tax that created hi-tech and service sector jobs during the "Celtic tiger" era. That tax regime, rather than the EU, was the source of prosperity. Yet the Irish elite's infatuation with Europe blinded it to that fact. Even yesterday, theIrish Times proclaimed that "we have made our independence more meaningful by sharing it with our European neighbours". Such odd logic is reminiscent of the belief that a nation can surrender its currency while keeping fiscal independence. Does anyone in Dublin still truly subscribe to it? Ireland now faces a choice: between leaving the euro, a risky option it is unlikely to take, and deeper integration into a eurozone hostile to low-tax experiments. Either way, this crisis is not good news for Britain, whose banks are exposed to Irish debt; but at least we can still set our own interest rates. What You Need to Know to Stay out of Trouble, Plus 3 Ways to Profit. If you've had a Bank of Ireland loan you may be owed a refund 1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. It's like doing London at 90% Off!Irish independence is the euro's latest victim
Ireland must now choose between leaving the euro and deeper integration into a eurozone hostile to its low-tax experiments.
The Euro in Real Danger
Bank of Ireland Refunds
London Coupons
Monday, 22 November 2010
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