Why we cannot take chances

The no people want us to send a clear message to Europe and the world that we, the proud Irish, will only accept those bits of ‘austerity’ which we like (ie none!), that we will only play by those already agreed rules which suit us (even fewer!) — and that, anyway, austerity is only a nasty type of kinky fringe-sadism thought up by a bunch of crazy academics in the Chicago School of Economics.

Those of us who have experienced periods of personal or family financial ‘leanness’ know only too well that when the household accounts are in the red, the debate over the kitchen table about ‘austerity’ — in the home — is not about ‘whether’ but about ‘how’ and ‘how much’. Thousands of Irish families are in this situation right now. Yet, though ‘we are where we are’ because of gambling on a mega-galactic scale, the no-nos want usto gamble yet again on a bunch of nice-if-they-happen but unverifiable — and ‘unbankable’ — possibilities.

In the good old days, if one went to look for a mortgage or an overdraft, and said that we were going to finance it by winning the Sweepstake, digging up the pot of gold at the bottom of the garden or stumbling over the suitcase of notes left by Granny (maybe), we would have been shown the door.