It's bad enough that we pushed the national debt towards €200m, or roughly four times what it costs to run the country every year. Furthermore, we've destroyed the construction industry, crippled the property market, and plunged anyone who bought a house in the last ten years into negative equity. We're cutting our way to growth, which seems insane, insisting on paying all of our debts - notwithstanding the systemic flaws in the Euro structure that have been at the heart of Ireland's inability to recover. We have acceded to the decimation of our population and its future through youth emigration, of a type that we have never seen before - it's not financial, and these ones don't intend on coming back. This is no mere release valve for unemployment with some of them going because they're young, free, and up for a bit of an adventure. It's not a lifestyle choice, it's a life choice.
