EU ‘ripping off’ Ireland with €9bn profit on loans, Higgins claims

THE EU has been accused of “ripping off” Ireland because of the €9 billion in profit it stands to make from the bailout loans it is providing to the state.

As teams from the troika of the EU, ECB and IMF began work in Dublin on their latest quarterly review of progress made under the bailout agreement, TDs criticised the interest rates being charged on the loans as “incredible”.

“It appears the posse of men who rode into town last November posing as good Samaritans are ripping off blind the Irish people,” Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins said.