If voting no makes Getting rid of the self serving liars in government easier, then I’m voting no. As far as getting a better deal from Europe goes! I think we need someone with real principles to negotiate for us! As of yet I don’t see anyone currently in politics cable of leading us out of this mess! Hopefully the reality of this situation will force he or she to come forward soon!

we’re a lot different than Greece, just in the sense that’s they’re a little more complicit in their problems than we are. I see what your saying and largely agree with what your saying its just I don’t see it as that easy we won’t get a debt right down that large by not playin ball with Europe, we would have to bankrupt ourselves to do it and leave the euro in order to devalue our currency. this would put the stability of all Irish exports and domestic production at risk. the markets wouldn’t lend to us at less than 10% which is madness, at least another bail out would be cheap money…. I reckon we need to play harder ball with Europe, make the French Germans and brits take the pain for their banks wreckless lending. they were equally as complicit as Anglo in all this.

Not all our debt is ‘unfair’. Sure, the bank debt is a pain in the ass but remember we have over €50bn of debt which is budgetary deficit caused by borrowing to pay social welfare.

The BCG report from December (reported here) on the likely consequences for nations departing the Euro. In a nutshell, short term (Iceland-like) pain followed by growth for departing nations. Longer term stagnation for remaining nations.
http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/the-single-image-that-explains-what-happens-if-we-leave-the-euro-308879-Dec2011/

Well said.!

It’s great to see pro austerity parties suffering a steep decline in support. We have to make a stand and say STOP for the sake if our kids and grand kids. This bullshit that there won’t be money to pay teachers and nurses is a scare tactic used by this lying toothless government. Vote NO to force a deal on debt write off. Remember the Brits defaulted in the 70′s and them seem to be doing OK.

bring back the punt

To all the commenters above… I agree with everything…

Love this, finally it seems to be coming together now…. It’s giving me hope to keep posting here…. I been saying these things for many many months now….

But slowly more and more are realizing what’s going on now..

But more importantly we need to get our nearest and dearest to buy into voting No…. We need a resounding No in this austerity treaty…. Worst case we do an iceland in it…. There after Ireland would be a lean and mean machine in a couple of years time…. With most if not all of our current headaches solved…

The rich and wealthy will suffer most if we vote No…. Stuff them and there greed…. I ain’t seen one banker or one millionaire to suggest voting no…. I also ain’t seen anyone who commited white collar crime put behind bars yet….

Vote No… But that won’t be enough… collectively we need to inform others who don’t know or care too much about the right thing to do now at this point in time now. Vote no

Welfare doesn’t really count much towards the deficit as it’s an economic driver. It keeps local business alive. If anything it might be a net positive.

Michael Noonan, our Minister for Finance, is one of these so called “investors” or “bondholders”, yet he walks the streets of Limerick without fear…. makes the mind boggle!!

That man, by the way, was Ryan oneill.

Thats the whole point Ryan, you *can’t* tell the markets to ‘fcuk right off’.

The markets control everything and the sooner the Irish people realise that’s why our Government are taking the approach they are, the better.

Sinn Fein and the United Lunatics Alliance seem to think we can live our lives in a little bubble and ignore everything thats happening around us.

Excuse me, I need to go, I can smell the coffee burning !

That’s not coffee you smell burning…..!

Thats the whole point Ryan, you *can’t* tell the markets to fcuk off !!
The markets control everything, and that is why our Government is taking the approach that it is.

This basic fact of economics seems to be lost on the Shinners and the United Lunatics Alliance

@John

I agree with you somewhat. I do understand that we need Europe and indeed the rest of the world. But we don’t need political, monetary and fiscal union. The like of such is disastrous when implemented. We can simply trade with Europe (free trade preferably), we don’t need to be tied together by the waist monetarily…

You get the debt write down and stay in euro just like Greece but the burden which is intolerable and getting even more unmanageable will be eased considerably, the fiscal compact is fine when we are all clear of trouble but at the moment all it is is a mechanism to guarantee Franco/German money back by punishing us further if we don’t make the cuts which will endanger our citizens lives even further. You have a growth pact, then when you are out of trouble you have a fiscal pact to make sure we don’t slip up again..

I would rather a quick beating than to spend the rest of my life being bullied.

Poverty, lawlessness on the streets, massive unemployment, high inflation and lack of stability.

Apart from that, I agree with you.