Europese Commissie maakt 'leningkalender' Ierland bekend (en)
EUOBSERVER i / DUBLIN - The mood on the streets of Dublin is noticeably subdued for this time of year as Irish citizens knuckle down to a tough Christmas of austerity. The European Commission i , meanwhile, has announced that EU i rescue funds will provide the country's government with €40.2 billion in 2011 and 2012 as part of an international aid package agreed last month.
In a statement on Tuesday (21 December), the commission said EU rescue funds would start issuing bonds early in the new year in order to raise the necessary funding, with Dublin set to receive €11.7 billion in the first three months of 2011.
The rest of Ireland's €85 billion aid package will come from the International Monetary Fund, the Irish National Pensions Reserve Fund and bilateral loans from a number of EU member states.
Many people doing their last-minute Christmas shopping in Dublin on Wednesday greeted the news with a shrug however, with the mood noticeably quiet for this time of year.
"It's absolutely diabolical," said Siobhán, a flower-seller on the capital's Moore Street for almost 25 years. "Nobody is spending any money because they haven't got it."
Formerly the poster child for open free-market economies, Dublin has unleashed a series of tough budgets since the financial crisis took hold in a desperate bid to rein in its runaway deficit, culminating earlier this month with a 2011 budget plan that includes €6 billion in spending cuts and tax rises.
"People are totally disheartened, everything has been cut in the budget from the people who need it most," said John, a shop-keeper on nearby Henry Street. "They should have brought all those bankers to court but instead they've let them off scot-free."
Economists argue over who has been most effected by Ireland's burst property bubble and banking-sector meltdown, with some including the country's David McWilliams saying it is predominantly middle-income earners.
"The reason people aren't rioting here is that this is largely a middle-class recession, but those are the sort of people who might support rightwing populists," he recently warned.
Others say huge cuts in social payments for families and the unemployed and a broadening of the country's tax base to include more low-income earners will inevitably hit Ireland's most vulnerable citizens.
The St Vincent de Paul society, the country's largest charity, has said thousands will be plunged into full-blown poverty by the government austerity plans. "We've seen a huge increase in calls ... and a quarter of these callers are new," the group's vice-president John Monaghan told media earlier this month.
In a country where emigration brings back painful memories, the national statistics office says the phenomenon has once again reared its head, with English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia among popular destinations.
Many of Ireland's immigrants, predominantly Poles and other eastern Europeans who came over to enjoy the country's Celtic Tiger in recent years, have since returned, while others have decided to stay, at least for the moment. "I have no plans to leave right now," said Michael, a Nigerian taxi-driver who has lived in Dublin for seven years. "I will give its a few years and see how it works out."
Officials worry the government's tough austerity measures linked to the EU-IMF i support could turn Irish citizens against EU membership, but a recent Irish Times poll suggested a majority of citizens support the international bail-out.
Out of the 1000 participants surveyed last week, 51 percent said they supported the aid package while 37 percent said they did not, with support coming largely from better-off individuals while the poorest social category was the most hostile.
A similar pattern emerged when participants were asked if it was better to be part of the European Union. While a large majority said it was better to stay in the EU, a majority of supporters of the nationalist Sinn Fein party which traditionally draws on less well-off voters said it would be better not to be in the 27-member club.