Very unsurprisingly, not everybody in Ireland is happy with the bailout plan. The softest spot is the use of Irish pension funds. The Irish people are risking their retirement money in order to save their banks – actually British, French and German banks that hold Irish banks’ bonds.
The main opposition party is furious with this. The Irish Times quotes Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Richard Burton:
“The EU in particular is looking at Ireland like a prodigal son who must be got into line. It is displaying very narrow thinking in shielding bond holders from exposure to costs and taking a penal approach to the cost of money. If Europe sets a cliff to osteep for Ireland to scale it won’t solve its own problems, no more than ireland’s,” he added.
And here’s someone who put the whole republic on sale, in a real estate site…