Ireland's debt servitude

Richard North notes that Ambrose has a splendidly angry piece about Ireland's debt servitude.

Stripped to its essentials, the €85bn package imposed on Ireland by the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank is a bail-out for improvident British, German, Dutch, and Belgian bankers and creditors.

The Irish taxpayers carry the full burden, and deplete what remains of their reserve pension fund to cover a quarter of the cost.

What if the Irish parliament votes against the massive austerity package? Should the next government "do an Iceland, wash its hands of the banks, and carry out a unilateral default on senior debt by refusing to extend the guarantee"?

The risks, says Ambrose are huge:

... but then the provocations are also huge. And there is a score to settle. Did the EU not disregard the Irish `No’ to Lisbon, just as it disregarded the first Irish `No’ to Nice? Did it not trample all over Irish democracy?

This drama is far from over. Indeed, it may be just beginning. Ireland's forthcoming elections will be much watched.