The Celtic Tiger  (1) Multinational Investment: 70% of Irish exports, low corporate profits tax  (2)Property Price bubble: construction accounting for almost quarter of national income by late 2000s  Rising household and bank debt; 6 main Irish banks borrowed €15 billion from abroad in 2003, figure had risen to €100 billion by 2007

Causes  Lax regulation of cross-border lending across EU  ECB low interest rate policies  Structural bias of EMU?  Irish government incentives

Government response  September 2008 bank guarantee: “the Irish people woke up to find that the… government had put up the entire Irish State as collateral for the crushing liabilities of six private banks” (McCabe)  NAMA  Short-term liquidity loans to banks

The price  Spending cuts and tax increases of €4,600 per person, and more to come  National income down 15%  Unemployment almost 15%, high emigration  Investment slump  Austerity underpinned by IMF-EU ‘bail out’ (December 2010)

The scale and nature of the debt  Almost 300% of national income (debt audit finding)  Over 75% due to private bank debt – not (initially) a crisis of public debt  Anonymous bondholders  An illegitimate and undemocratic debt

Limited protest  Emigration  Media  Election (February 2011)  Trade union leadership

Stirrings of resistance  Rise in Left vote  Citizens’ initiatives  Calls for a referendum  Occupy Dame Street