Election Will Herald a New Era in Ireland

Fine Gael also announced in its election manifesto that it wants private creditors to share the losses of Irish banks. Many economists consider this to be a necessary step if Ireland is to escape its debt spiral. But the European Central Bank and the EU partner countries are strongly opposed to such a move -- they fear a loss of investor confidence that could spread to other EU countries.

Political commentators do not believe that Fine Gael would go this far. The Irish Times columnist Vincent Browne criticized their election promise as "not credible". He said that the new government will not undertake a restructuring of Irish debt "because the ECB will instruct them not to do so."