Cyprus crisis - Panic puts EU project at risk

With bankruptcy hanging over Cyprus, the people of Ireland probably have greater understanding than most Europeans of the plight of the beleaguered citizens of the Mediterranean island.

Having witnessed the raid on pensions here in order to bail out the banks, and having been clobbered by a barrage of new taxes in a variety of guises, hard-pressed citizens of this country know the bitter reality of having money taken out of their pockets to undo the immense damage caused by out-of-control developers, greedy bankers, and feckless politicians.

However, sympathy will count for little given the cataclysmic scale of the crisis now besetting 800,000 Greek Cypriots as they face the prospect of a yet undecided percentage of their hard-earned savings being sucked out of their bank accounts.