43 Results

The latest opinion poll suggests there is considerable uncertainty in Ireland about support for fiscal austerity policies, reports Richard Farmer.

Ireland is broke and depressed. Two percent of the population has left since 2008, with Australia the number one destination for those emigrating. Eric Ellis interviews those about to flee.

The Irish elections were a triumph for the Left, with Labour nearly doubling its vote and Sinn Fein tripling theirs. But will the Fine Gael-Labour government be the wreck of the latter party?

Ireland is only the second country after smaller Iceland to have been bankrupted by its banks and bankers, with considerable assistance from weak politicians and corrupt businessmen.

The Irish parliament is expected to be dissolved this week and Fianna Fáil is facing the prospect of a humiliating defeat that could see them become Ireland’s third major political party, writes Keshia Jacotine.

The Conservative Party got the better of the Liberal-Democrats in the negotiations for coalition government. And a new electoral reform agenda will likely go their way, too.

Looking hale and hearty from his country estate regime, WikiLeaks star-fleet commander Julian Assange yesterday appeared at London’s Frontline Club.

Ireland’s decision to accept the EU bailout fund relieved the European bond markets for a very brief time, but the risk premiums are already returning higher, reports Richard Farmer.

Ireland is edging closer to political uproar today, with Taoiseach (i.e. prime minister for goddsake) Brian Cowen being accused of “clinging to power”, and rumours that members of his own party, Fianna Fail, may vote against him.

Crikey readers have their say.

Europe’s economic woes are back in the headlines, with Ireland appeaing in the most immediate danger thanks with the mooted €35 billion cost of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank causing Ireland’s budget deficit to increase to an alarming 32% of GDP (ten times the EU limit).

The losses inflicted by the vainglorious Irish bankers are staggering. Overnight, the Irish government estimated that the total cost of bailing out the Irish banks had risen to a sickening €45 billion ($AUD 63 billion), writes Karen Maley.

Ireland’s football team was cruelly denied a place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa due to a blatant piece of cheating from the French this morning, declares Neil Walker.

Simon Nasht goes on a world tour of economic carnage caused by the global financial crisis, from Wall Street’s trading floor to abandoned factories in China. Where does the world go to from here?

Yesterday’s gigantic sting by Shocking caught thousands upon thousands of pundits, coat-tuggers, gombeens and gobshites who all said that Bart could do no wrong, writes TP Maher.

Greek and British governments are eying special taxes on the bank profits to help boost income and reduce debt bills, while Ireland may be forced to go to the IMF for aid if it can’t make deep cuts in spending.