Between austerity and resistance
Ireland has been hailed as an austerity success story. Kieran Allen examines the reality behind the hype and the prospects for resistance from below.
Ireland's exit from the Troika - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Union (EU) and European Central Bank (ECB) - bailout programme on 16 December is being celebrated as proof that austerity works. The storyline from the Irish ruling class is that sovereignty has been regained. They claim that 85 percent of the "heavy lifting" has been done and only a little more sacrifice needs to be squeezed from the population. The EU elite see the exit as a much-needed propaganda point to counter the growing criticism of their doctrine of "expansionary austerity".