The Cards We Were Dealt & How We Played Our Hand

Cormac Lucey, if I do not misunderstand this article of his, thinks that the EMU project is the ultimate culprit for our current economic mess. He is not alone in holding that view.

I do not agree: in my opinion, it is the lack of an appropriate Irish fiscal/regulatory policy response to the implications of our circumstances that is the proper culprit in that context. My recollection is that flaws in the Eurozone architecture were competently identified and policy prescriptions recommended by the "economist community".

Very unfortunately, those recommendations were not followed, and that is why "we are where we are". I don't claim to have been prescient about the extent of the financial "meltdown", but do claim that my opposition to the Lisbon Treaty was partially due to a revulsion from the failure - a failure of the EU elites, not just the Irish - to face the fact that the EU governance arrangements were neither one thing nor the other, and not fit for purpose, especially for a monetary union.

See these statements, for examples:

Having to play by the EMU rules is an acceptable long term price to pay for EMU’s economic benefits

I remain concerned by the robustness of the arrangements for the Euro. The Stability Pact is not the only one of its foundation pillars that is looking shaky

They are extracts from a 2008 post of mine.