In all likelihood, George Osborne will rise this afternoon to groans if not jeers.
Britain looks set to lend Ireland £7bn as part of multilateral and bilateral bailouts. Many, particularly the Eurosceptic right, question our involvement, given our straitened financial
circumstances and the apparent fact that Britain is sustaining the eurozone’s monetary and debt union, and will have to borrow to do so.
George Osborne has been adamant throughout: Ireland is too important to Britain’s recovery to risk collapse – British and Irish banks are closely linked, debts and borrowing are often co-dependent, trade is very profitable. That the bailout should strengthen the euro is a natural consequence of Ireland being a member of the euro. In other words, the euro is not wholly to blame for Ireland’s woes. Membership of the euro lowered Ireland’s borrowing costs, but the Celtic Tiger had a gambling
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