United States ‘rooting for Ireland’s success’

AMERICA is “rooting” for Ireland to overcome its economic problems and will do all it can to help out, President Barack Obama pledged yesterday.

After 40 minutes of talks at Farmleigh House which took in the EU/IMF bailout, the peace process in the North and the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, the president said Ireland and the US did not just have a commercial trade bond, but also carried a “blood lineage” between each other.

Mr Obama’s indication that he is prepared to use America’s economic muscle to aid Ireland comes in the wake of transatlantic controversy after economist Morgan Kelly claimed that the president’s treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, had vetoed an EU bid to let Ireland “burn” bond-holders to the tune of €30 billion last November as part of the bailout deal.