Will Irish eyes be smiling?

I am not sure what to say about the Irish bail out. Part of me, as I said on The Seven Days Show last night would like to see the Euro crash and burn. I have never been a believer in giving away your economic independence which frankly is what you do with the Euro. I am glad the UK is not part of it. It gives you that little bit more extra economic freedom – the power to set your own interest rates – which is vitally important.

But could we really have stuck two fingers up to Ireland and said you guys are on your own? We clearly do alot of trade with Ireland so its in our interest to keep their economy going, but if I were a constituent living next to Sheffield Forgemasters I would ask why can we find billions to lend to Ireland, but we can’t find a few million for Forgemasters? Of course that question could equally apply to why we would cut money for the police, or other areas yet can lay our hands on billions seemingly easy.

A further reason as to why we were in a complete Catch 22 situation was apparently (and I would love someone to confirm this) when the lovely Gordon Brown sold a chunk of our gold reserves at rock bottom prices, the money was put in Euros, so we have another financial interest to prop up the Irish economy and also the Euro.

I guess then, the questions shouldn’t be will Irish eyes be smiling – their electorate seem pretty miffed with the whole situation. The question is whether the UK taxpayers eyes be smiling having coughed up a considerable chunk of change.