Ireland Goes Bust

[David Guyatt]

Oh, naughty, naughty Ireland.

Endlessly buggered and raped and traded into perpetual servitude to suit the wealthy elite, it must now increase taxation to deter business, and so sink further into debt.

Sarkozy, you little sweet thing you.

Sarkozy calls for corporation tax hike in Ireland

Ireland should not be allowed to benefit from EU aid while maintaining its low corporation tax rate, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said.

"I deeply respect the independence of our Irish friends and we have done everything to help them. But they cannot continue to ask us to come and help them while keeping a tax on company profit, that is half of what other countries have," he said.


President Sarkozy has said the euro is "too strong" against the dollar, weakening French and European exports as a result.

Ireland received the first €5bn in bailout funds this week, as part of an €85bn rescue package agreed with the EU and IMF in November.

The Irish corporation tax rate of 12.5% has been criticised by governments on the continent who resent the amount of inward investment the Republic has attracted since the 1990s.

Sarkozy also said the euro is "too strong" against the dollar and that the exchange rate is hurting French and European exports.