Salvation must come from some quarter

THE big imponderable facing the economy is not the election outcome, but what success the next government will have in renegotiating the terms of the EU/IMF deal.

Put at its most colloquial, this country is broke and the upshot of the bailout terms is to make us even more broke.

To that end both Fine Gael and Labour have pledged to look for a better deal from the Europeans and for greater understanding from the IMF on the burden confronting us. But recent studies by various stockbroking houses in Dublin give little cause for cheer.