but ireland doesn't have a veto. that's very important. ireland had a vote in the lisbon treaty. but this only needs 12 of the 17 euro zone members to sign up to it in order for it to be ratified. so a no-vote here, if that happens, wouldn't derail the project. >> am i right that ireland is the only country putting this fiscal pact to a referendum? >> yes. and that's due to the fact that ireland has a written constitution and over the years any piece of legislation coming from europe which was seen to be in conflict with the constitution or seen to have written ramifications was put to a vote. this is the ninth time ireland's voted on european issues, so i think you can say the irish pretty much have enormous this area. they are used to voting on european pieces of legislation and used to i suppose decoding rather complex pieces of european legislation. this is a campaign marked by a great deal of information. the governments have put out a great deal of election lists including sending every household in the country a copy of the treaty itself. one economist i was speaking to sa

today, a group c and the republic of ireland. they have drawn tough opponents in spain, italy, and croatia. >> but the irish players will not be lacking motivation. 10 years have passed since ireland last debated -- competed at a major international tournament. now they want to make up for lost time. >> it is only the second time the republic of ireland have qualified for the european championship, and fans everywhere are proud that they have gotten this far. >> it is a tremendous achievement for a company like -- country like ireland to qualify for the championship. >> there are no big-name players, but 20 of the 23 strong squad play in what many consider the world's top league -- the english premier league. and they have got no shortage of experience for club and country. and the captain, now age 31, has been scoring goals for ireland since he was a teenager. >> we have almost no major international stars, but we have many good, strong players, and we are well organized. >> one of the most successful coaches in world football,

well i just repeat back fortunately in writing what the cato institute said about ireland and iceland and places like that as recently as two thousand and seven where they praised them said that they should be the model for other nations tree shea then the head of the european central bank and the guy leading the program came to ireland and said it should be the model for all of europe that it was reducing deficits and you know and actually running surpluses and such it's only after things blew up that this big lie started that said that the problems of the periphery were due to excessive debt in the good times there is a little bit of truth to that in terms of greece but there is no truth as to the rest of the periphery in fact it's quite the opposite so what do. what caused it is massive losses on pick your country if you look at ireland spain you're talking about the two largest bubbles of any developed nations in the world as a ratio to g.d.p. the irish bubble was twice as big as the u.s. residential real estate bubble and spain was nearly as large as ireland it was massive accoun

you see that in ireland. ireland had just the mortgages. and ireland of course had also very tough personal insol veven laws. and not making them tougher. moody's, the extreme version, for ireland, get up to 35 billion of additional losses coming the bank's way on mortgages outstanding of only just over 100 billion. now, spain is not having any plans -- don't get me wrong, for changing the personal insolvency laws. there is political contagion. the greek deal, be noncompliant, and have the write down on your privately held debt. their debt. must be rankling in portugal and ireland though they're fully compliant. similarly the irish example of getting rid of the dickensian personal insol vevency and lett people walk away will be hard to reap cyst. i think they haven't begun yet to recognize the losses. and that's what flares up -- periodically. but, there is a trigger. the trigger now is greece. see months from now the trigger may be, engaging in a short-lived dickensianexperimen the markets discipline him and force him to be back to being u

khan invest in coeditor of the book what if ireland defaults so he can really give us a perspective way way more authentically than we ever could so first thank you so much for being on the show welcome back to capital account professor thank you delighted to be here now let's start with the spanish banking sector because one of the reporters at the press conference today asked druggy why the s. and p. isn't being used more aggressively to buy spanish bonds what do you think the e.c.b. is waiting for and do you think they'll really allow spanish borrowing costs to rise much further without intervening. well we can understand these abuse position is it has been very significantly exposed to the spanish government that it has been very significantly exposed to the london to the spanish banks the spanish banks are some of the largest boards from the e.c.b. both under the longer term the finance and operations they'll tear all those three year old parishioners and those who are under the short term borrowing as well so the result of that is he is trying to look forward and says that it's a

why would we come back to ireland? >> they are caught between wanting to stay with their family and the prospect of a better life abroad. like the nation itself, they do not know which option would be best for their and their children's future. >> to sports now. with just nine days left before the euro 2012 soccer championships kicked off, we continue our live at the teams with a perennial favorite, france. family thing is they are in a group d, a tough one including close ukraine, spain, and england. france had a disastrous world cup two years ago, but since the appointment of their new coach, they appear to have turned a corner. >> the french want to reach the quarterfinals, but a look at the line of shows they could go further. david field has but technique and physicality. >> we have a young squad and the squad who wants to prove that they can compete with the best team in europe. >> the man getting the most attention is real madrid stiker, who despite the hype wants to keep a clear head. >> expectations are high f

nevada is ireland. they turn out to be twins except for the landscape, they turn out to be similar economies. we both had big bubbles, we both had a big runup of private sector debt and then a collapse and we're both still deeply depressed. there's been some recovery but it's not enough to get anywhere close to full employment. the europeans are in worse trouble than we are because they have the additional problem of having created a single currency without the preconditions. >> rose: they can't print money. >> well, no individual country can print money and there's more to it than that. we probably want to talk about that but there are a lot of special problems the europeans have imposed upon themselves that we don't have. we're not doing very well. better than the europeans is not a good enough story. >> rose: stay with europe. you write about spain today. >> yeah, so spain, spain has got 25% unemployment. 50% youth unemployment. what's that about? it's... spain was for a while the... the markets love

, there's a incentive to move your factory to ireland. >> why isn't everybody in ireland? [both chuckle] >> almost everybody is in ireland, all the pharmaceutical companies, all the high-tech companies. you're stupid if you're not in ireland. >> we noticed that you have an awful lot of companies in ireland. >> yes, we do. >> one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight companies in ireland. >> mm-hmm. we do what makes sense to the shareholders. we go where there are incentives in countries that say, "we want you here. we're gonna give you tax advantages. we want you to add jobs here." et cetera. we can no longer, in america, say, "this is how we do it; therefore, you must do it." we've got to change, or we're gonna get left behind. >> an increasingly popular way particularly pharmaceutical and high-tech companies like google avoid paying the 35% is to shift their patents, computer code, pill formulas, even logos from their u.s. bases to their outposts in low-tax countries. >> 100 years ago, if a company would want to relocate, you'd have to pick up the factory, machinery

yet to be allies the full extent of the potential losses if you take for example the country like ireland where the process of realisation of losses has been pretty aggressive compared to say greece or spain with them or portugal the banking system here is continues the release of the data which is showing year on year the losses accumulated outside of those losses which were imposed under the regulatory for example to the u.s. so when you look at mortgage markets those markets are now under severe strain and severe pressure those losses are going to materialize in the next couple of years and the banks are holding these provisions because they cannot simply lend the other reason is that during the crisis during the buildup to the crisis across europe there has been a huge imbalance built on the on the front and side of the bank and the sector operations in particular the short term interbank funding creates a very significant maturity mismatch accumulations banks' balance sheets across the entire euro zone sector but also in particularly in weak economies and once again the banks are sca

for northern ireland. >> pleased to hear the fact of the current reductions. my right hon. friend, delighted to hear the 67,000 more people are insured since the election. and we have to pull up a working group working closely with the minister and the treasury to see whether further tests are made in reducing corporation taxes. >> order. questions for the prime minister. mr. paul mainer. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i am sure the house will join me in paying tribute to the two service and -- servicemen were killed in afghanistan. corporal mccarthy and lee davis from first battalion wealth gardens. our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones. they were both courageous and highly respected men who engaged in vitally important work of training and mentoring the afghan police. their service to our nation must never be forgotten. this morning i had meetings with others in addition to my duties in the house and will have further meetings later today. >> the prime minister's tribute to our fallen serve asmen is the right thing to do. i also welcome what w

the people of ireland voting on the future of their finances and sovereignty if the majority says yes to the so-called e.u. fiscal pact power over the country's budget and the authority to impose penalties will largely lay in brussels reporting from dublin artie's laura smith. it's hope since choice ireland has two options as it goes out to vote on a fiscal pact with the e.u. to say yes to writing austerity into law and seat precious sovereignty to brussels say no and incur the wrath of the european central bank and potentially kissed goodbye to e.u. bailouts and it looks like it's going to be close the reason i'm voting yes this time is that we are in the e.u. now we have lost a veto and it would be foolish to do anything else it is a matter for way we both look it's all change france. has said that they don't want to go down group austerity and that's that aren't have gone so far and it's not working there's no change in our at the moment so that's why our people want to send a message to your votes taking place against the backdrop of a failing economy unemployment up to fifteen pe

how different is ireland from greece?ry oleary made his case on "squawk box" today. >> ireland is a very different case from greece because if you look at the profile of industry in ireland, we're very active in the modern sectors of the economy, the technology sector, the life science, the digital media. we can see a way of exporting significant businesses out of ireland so the economies are very, very different. >> absolutely. all right. kelly evans is back from london with more on that part of the story. kelly. >> yeah. hey, michelle, the main industries may be different, but ireland and greece have one overriding thing in common, and that is the euro. the trouble for both ireland and greece is that when recession hit, their economies tanked but their currency did not. for example, imagine the benefit to irish exports, to greek tourism, if their currencies were to depreciate somewhere in the range of 50% to 60%, greece currently the figures making the rounds. of course ireland and greece along with the likes of spain a

we'll talk to the man responsible for foreign investment in ireland. but first we're getting ready for a three day holiday weekend and if you're hitting the road, you want to hear this story. national motorist association has updated its rankings of the states and cities more likely to pull over speeding drivers. nevada is the state most likely. followed by georgia and alabama. meantime, wyoming, the estate least likely to issue a speeding tick account followed et follow. >>> u.s. companies spent 8% higher than one year earlier when though the number of business travelers dropped. the road war yours are expected to get more done on fewer trips so companies are employing game if i indication to stir healthy competition and cut costs. game if i indication is an emerging management tool that uses rewards and recognition to encourage the most efficient travel decisions. coca-cola was an early adopter. the company developed a core card to tally travel transactions. those who booked cheaper flights and stay at company preferred hotels rack up points, cash th

it's hobson's choice ireland has two options is it goes out to vote on a fiscal pact with the e.u. to say yes to writing austerity into law and cede precious sovereignty to brussels say no and incur the wrath of the european central bank and potentially kissed goodbye to e.u. bailouts and it looks like it's going to be close the reason i'm voting yes this time is that we are in the e.u. now we have lost a veto and it would be foolish to do anything else it is a matter of what we were both looking for to change france. has said that they don't want to go down groove austerity and that's all that are and have gone so far and it's not working there's no change in our at the moment so that's why our people want to send a message to your votes taking place against the backdrop of a failing economy unemployment up to fifteen percent welfare payments a cut public sector spending has been slashed everyone's feeling the pinch including publican jimmy killed near he's seen his turnover full by heart as locals batten down the hatches we would have had to and five full time employees for part

they say the church in ireland must find a way of winning trust before it is too late. bbc news in dublin. >> in a lavish ceremony of the kremlin today, there was a sense of deja vu as vladimir putin once again returned to the top of russian politics. if he completes his six-year presidential term, he will become the longest serving russian leader since josef stalin. the fact lost on those who tried to protest at his inauguration. we have this report from moscow. >> gliding through silent moscow, vladimir putin is the president of 140 million people. this morning, the streets were deserted. no one was allowed to watch him pass as he headed for the kremlin and his third term. the ceremony in the grand kremlin palace oozed power. the former kgb officer still appears untouchable despite the seating rivalries in russian politics. >> i shall do everything to live up to the trust of millions of our citizens. i claim service to the fatherland as the meaning of my whole life. >> all day, the police were rounding up some of those citizens, and arresting them for daring to demons

the catholic church once dominated public life in ireland. it spoke with authority and respect. increasingly desperate priests are refusing lay people and making increasing demands for fundamental reform. this meeting represents an unprecedented challenge to the vatican. traditional catholics accuse the association of catholic priests of usurping authority and betraying the church. they are defiant. >> in today's world, educated people have a right to have a voice. that voice has the right to be heard. if it leads to decisions that challenge institutions, that is what we call progress. >> 1/4 of ireland's active priests support the new movement. they say the church in ireland must find a way of winning back public trust before it is too late. bbc news in dublin. >> in a lavish ceremony of the kremlin today, there was a sense of deja vu as vladimir putin once again returned to the top of russian politics. if he completes his six-year presidential term, he will become the longest serving russian leader since josef stalin. the fact lost on those who tried to protest at his inaugura

we bought heavily into bank of ireland. that's essentially a play on the fact that ireland is a high tech economy. it's no longer the place that people once knew. it's the world's largest net exporter of pharmaceuticals and medical device companies are there and internet and internet gaming companies. it companies. it's a high tech economy and has the lowest tax rate in europe. young well educated workforce and they dealt with the problem. they nationalized the banks and they blew a hole in the budget. as a result in one day, they knocked out 13% of the total cost of civil service and cut out capital spending and cut social services even in the face of 14.5% unemployment. they are much further along than the other countries. >> we are pressed for time today, but in terms of the purchase of bank of ireland, you said that you intended on tripling your money and you would exit. what sort of time frame doo have and whether or not what goes on in europe will in your view impact the time frame and extend it. could a greek exit im

of vitality in the european economy i think is somewhat slim particularly in peripheral countries ireland for its part has an even bigger proportion of failed private bank debt that was social lives after it failed then the rest of the european union and we did that in two thousand and eight and two thousand and ten in order to start to save the euro to prevent contagion from spreading so what needs to be done now is that europe needs to come up with a solution that either federalizes that debt and spreads it across all of the european union or writes it off in some other form but to leave that stark on the irish taxpayer money that our government never borrowed which amounts to almost which amounted to a doubling of our debt. almost literally overnight in september two thousand and eight that came out that cannot stand presumably you. going to get a lot of support for your stance say no to this referendum because people not just in ireland but throughout the whole of europe are fed up with the austerity measures but interesting enough and has met all its budget targets imposed by the you

be an awakening there anytime soon well if i recall correctly about a year or two ago the ira in ireland it gotten aboard. the bandwagon against you know these fraudulent bankers who had straggled the economy and then at least over the u.s. at least kind of lost track of that and now it seems like it's the that is coming back. into the fore so i you know i'm really frankly kind of confused about what's going on our own it seems the ebb and flow over there the public awareness of what the of the true forces that are worth by the crisis well i think that would be an interesting question to explore when you come to europe and you travel through ireland you hopefully can talk to folks in the ira and ask them what their take is and i know as you point out they were making some some some announcement some proclamations a year ago or so they've been pretty quiet and fame is a gathering. votes in ireland and we see this another trend in europe we have the votes are increasing and the parliamentarian participation from the extreme left the extreme right in greece they can't form a. majority gover

third thing about this you know the threat of taking away is what's driving voters in ireland to vote for this thing they should be scared to death warrant of getting more aid they don't want to look what did the great look what portugal spain is complaining right now they don't wonder you know who the prime minister of spain is saying we don't want because we can see what it did to our one and so now the voters unarmed are saying oh we need to vote for this thing so we can get more oh i made it to follow ireland has a real economy for more than greece far more than spend far more than portugal so you know ireland should have left the euro zone right then and there and defaulted on all that debt they had a vote on this one of these new people do they come in more exact same policies bail out the foreign lenders no it is completely senseless this vote's going to pass it's going to trap our own more than they're already trapped that's the sad thing warned about this yeah eight is a euphemism for bailing out foreign lenders maybe the same way that hygiene has become the euphemism on wall

some proclamations a year ago or so they've been pretty quiet and fein is a gathering of votes in ireland and we see this another trend in europe we have the votes are increasing and the parliamentarian participation from the extreme left the extreme right in greece they can't form a majority government this is in france they now have a new socialist government so on the margins on the political scene they are you know these alternative political voices are making inroads i am struck by the inability let me just change gears for a second john the occupy wall street movement of course is that it is directed toward wall street but wall street's crimes around the world are not necessarily most egregious in new york area and the wall street area they are most apparent in countries like greece why this my question john why wouldn't a few thousand of the occupy folks simply go over to athens and set up camp in athens because that's the front of the global insurrection against the banker occupation is in athens right now why don't we see new yorkers an occupy people from around the america setti

you can be barely off the boat from ireland in new york city and already voting in local elections in this way. so there are implications here for the experiences of immigrants and the way they begin to identify themselves. we have talked a lot about how republican theories of the democracy require active civic participation. one of the essential things to being a good american citizen is participating in american politics. so you have these immigrants who are very quickly involved in one sort of the main kinds of things you do as an american citizen all the while still living in annum grant neighborhood, perhaps not speaking english yet in the case of germans and still in every cultural way being am enmeshed in your natural community and at the same time being fully active american citizens in a political sense, so it is very easy for people to think of themselves very quickly after they come over to the united states as american citizens and as irish, as american citizens and as germans, and so you end up very quickly developing these hyphenated identities. it is not hard for irish

has a real economy far more than greece far more than spend far more than portugal so you know ireland should have left the euro zone right then and there and defaulted on all that debt they had a vote on this one of these new people do the come in more exact same policies bail out the foreign lenders no it is completely senseless this vote's going to pass it's going to trap our own more than they're already trapped that's the sad thing war and this yeah aid is a euphemism for bailing out foreign lenders maybe the same way that hygiene has become the euphemism on wall street for outside speculation with depositors money now meanwhile one of the effects that we've seen of all of this risk in europe is that investors are running to what they perceive as safe haven so you have this effect if we can bring up the chart where the united states with which has staggering public debt has seen its yield fall to record lows the ten year treasury at one point five two the last time i checked earlier today so people are giving the us government their money for only you know one and a half percent r

ireland is expected to vote for the referendum today. >> what's taking place in ireland? are we seeing this as a banking and debt problem or has it really reached a crisis yet? >> ireland is the poster boy and poster child for austerity. they took their medicine like a good patient and they have taken it and taken it and taken it and in fact in some cases they're pretty angry that other countries are getting wiggle room like greece while ireland continues to really suffer, but what they did is they got rid of all the bad debts and the banks and hired them off and made major cutbacks and large sways of the economy is in trouble and things are turning around. i was talking to the irish man yesterday and they say things are getting better and the situation is definitely looking up. however, they are terrified that a spanish problem or worse greek problem will eventually hit everybody just as you and i were talking yesterday because if you're on the other side of the atlantic about to feel the wash of the waves, imagine poor ireland and how that will get hit. >> have to let y

a disappointing thing for families and hard-working people in northern ireland would be nothing in termsreducing the heavy cost of fuel, petrol and diesel, tackling the reece crisis in terms of energy costs, cost of living. these are the issues that really affect people. i have to say there was fairly little in the queen's speech that really will impact on those kinds of issues for hard-working families and individuals and businesses. businesses have been really crushed by the lack of credit, and so much needs to be taken on that. and that's what we'll be looking for in the next parliament. >> from wales? >> i think the ombudsman issue is very interesting. wales is on its last legs unless something is donor gently. it needs teeth. it needs proper investment. i also think the green investment bank is fine provided it does have the billions necessary. i am worried about the attack on public sector pensions, and i'm interested by the whole idea of a single tier of pension, something which we've argued for many years now, a single portal into old age pension, which we think if it sets at the