Ireland starts to vote - Default elephant looms!

The following is from a report in the Irish Times from this afternoon, how voters perceive the issue of default will be crucial in the weeks ahead for the entire Euro Group of former nations:

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland  today, Mr Ó Caoláin said the IMF-ECB bailout is the “elephant in the room” and has to be faced up to directly.

“We cannot wait for the EU to deal with it over the next couple of years and perhaps in 2013 to face up to it finally," he said.

“The question isn’t about Sinn Féin’s alternative…the real question has to be put to not only Fianna Fáil and the Greens but Fine Gael and Labour - how do you expect our people to pay for this? How do you expect them to shoulder the burden that’s been placed on them?”

Mr Ó Caoláin also denied his party would use the country’s corporation tax rate as a bargaining chip with Europe adding that the 12.5 per cent rate is “crucial” as part of the overall package of what Ireland has to offer.