Irish bailout triggers political crisis

Irish bailout triggers political crisis Protestors wave the Irish tricolor following clashes with police officers after breaking through the gates of Government Buildings in Dublin.The Irish government is facing a crisis after accepting up to 90bn euros ($124bn) in loan from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In return, Dublin is set to unveil a four-year economic plan on Wednesday and is drawing up a harsh austerity budget, which is to be published on December 7.

The measure will cut the minimum wage, slash social spending, reduce the number of public employees and raise income taxes.

Calls are now growing for Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen to step down and call for snap elections.

The minister has dismissed the criticism, saying he will stay in power long enough to pass the country's crucial 2011 budget.

Cowen also announced on Monday that he will dissolve parliament in January only after the controversial budget has passed.

His comments come at the end of a day of commotion in Irish politics.

There were violent scenes in Dublin when police attacked protesters who had gathered at the city's Government Buildings.

People in Ireland accuse the government of mishandling the country's financial crisis.

“It's criminal what they are doing,” a protester said.

Junior partners in Cowen's coalition cabinet the Green Party have also said that they want to split up after the approval of the budget.

This is while Irish opposition parties are demanding snap elections.

Other EU countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy are at the risk of going down the same road as Ireland.

This has alarmed the debt-ridden eurozone, which is facing a crisis over its single currency, the euro.

Greece went down the same path back in May.

At the time EU officials said the bailout of Athens was necessary to prevent the chaos in Greece's banking sector from destabilizing other eurozone economies.

However, now with Ireland, Portugal, Spain and even Italy in the line of fire it seems that things have not gone according to plan.

FF/HRF

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