A quote from David McWilliams in The Irish Independent, 16 July 2008

Is it time to think the unthinkable? With banks shares in free-fall, lending collapsing and bad debts rising by the hour, what can we do? Now that the slowdown has spread well beyond houses and construction – evidenced by falling retail sales, rapidly rising unemployment and faltering tax revenues – is there an option out there, which, although dramatic, might be plausible in the context of the recession the country is facing?

What we are talking about here is pulling out of the euro. […]

When an economy is in a nosedive, it is the democratic responsibility of the elected government to do something about it. In bad times, ideas that seem extreme in "normal" times are sometimes entertained.

As our crisis deepens, the "currency" issue is likely to re-emerge as a political option. It is worth remembering that our boom was triggered by a forced devaluation in 1993. At the time, the establishment regarded the 1993 devaluation as a calamity; in the event, it proved to be a godsend.