DUBLIN: Readers of Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper were confronted by an unexpected front page headline this week when the Irish Independent proclaimed the 'End Of Austerity'.
In a country that began cutting spending and hiking taxes almost five years ago, well before the scale of the euro zone's debt crisis was evident, weary Irish voters have more interest than most in the fresh debate over Europe's cornerstone policy.
But as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso put the austerity question back on the agenda by suggesting it had reached its natural limit of popular support, data showed that in Europe, only Greece has a higher underlying budget deficit.
While better than was assumed under its EU/IMF bailout, Ireland's deficit of 7.6 percent of annual output nevertheless points to more tough budgets and soul searching in Brussels may simply make it harder for politicians to push cuts through.
"It's a dangerous game," said Donal Sheridan, a university lecturer, after reading the Independent's eye-catching headline at a newsstand on Dublin's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street.
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"If you're going to do something significant, fair enough, give people indication so they can look forward to it. But if you're not, you're just building up expectations and people will be even more disappointed when the budget comes."
Barroso's comments, echoed by the IMF but resisted by the European Central Bank, come at a tricky time for the Irish government as it tries to revive a failed plan to cut public pay while keeping the kind of industrial peace that has marked it apart from other euro zone strugglers.
The deal, aimed at saving 1 billion euros between now and 2015, was rejected by public servants last week and trade union leaders have been emboldened by the increasing calls to throttle back on debt-cutting drives.
The government's usual reaction -- blaming the demands of its international lenders, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund the European Central Bank -- has suddenly become less convincing.
indiatimes.com
In a country that began cutting spending and hiking taxes almost five years ago, well before the scale of the euro zone's debt crisis was evident, weary Irish voters have more interest than most in the fresh debate over Europe's cornerstone policy.
But as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso put the austerity question back on the agenda by suggesting it had reached its natural limit of popular support, data showed that in Europe, only Greece has a higher underlying budget deficit.
While better than was assumed under its EU/IMF bailout, Ireland's deficit of 7.6 percent of annual output nevertheless points to more tough budgets and soul searching in Brussels may simply make it harder for politicians to push cuts through.
"It's a dangerous game," said Donal Sheridan, a university lecturer, after reading the Independent's eye-catching headline at a newsstand on Dublin's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street.
the
"If you're going to do something significant, fair enough, give people indication so they can look forward to it. But if you're not, you're just building up expectations and people will be even more disappointed when the budget comes."
Barroso's comments, echoed by the IMF but resisted by the European Central Bank, come at a tricky time for the Irish government as it tries to revive a failed plan to cut public pay while keeping the kind of industrial peace that has marked it apart from other euro zone strugglers.
The deal, aimed at saving 1 billion euros between now and 2015, was rejected by public servants last week and trade union leaders have been emboldened by the increasing calls to throttle back on debt-cutting drives.
The government's usual reaction -- blaming the demands of its international lenders, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund the European Central Bank -- has suddenly become less convincing.
indiatimes.com
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