Clearly no-one commenting on the EU Commission’s levying of €13 billion of taxes on Apple has read my 2005 IEA … Continue reading “Apple and Ireland: nothing surprising in the EU imposing taxes”

Five years ago some comic genius came up with the joke that defined the approaches to resolving the problems of … Continue reading “Iceland versus Ireland: lessons from the banking crisis”

Plain packaging for tobacco appears to have been rejected by the UK’s Coalition government, just as it was rejected by … Continue reading “Ireland, plain packaging and cognitive dissonance”

Little more than three years ago, Ireland’s taxpayers were saddled with around 40 billion euros of debt, after their government … Continue reading “Ireland’s sovereign debt monetisation”

The eurozone came with fine aspirations: according to article 127 in the consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning … Continue reading “Sovereign debt restructuring and the euro crisis”

Ireland is not stupid. When credit is offered, it chooses the lowest rate. Ireland’s ‘bailout’ from the European System of … Continue reading “Is Ireland exploiting eurosystem loopholes at Germany’s expense?”

Europe is trapped in a cycle where debt is being passed round and round in circles – the banks are … Continue reading “Sort out mechanisms to wind up banks”

The Irish people voted “No” both to the EU’s Nice Treaty and to the Lisbon Treaty. That is, they voted … Continue reading “Why not an Irish reunion?”

The Irish bailout shows that Greece was just the first act of the ongoing euro crisis. It is now almost certain that Ireland will … Continue reading “Euro crisis – Act II: the consequences of an Irish default”