Hi Matt,
Thanks for the kind words.
I was in Greece once only - honeymoon.
The people there were beauty-full.

Ireland has two economies - a domestic one and we are a hub ,in Europe, for hi-tech multinationals as we are in the Euro zone and english speaking.
The multinational thing is going well and gives some employment but they are on tax breaks and the real money involved is not in our economy.
The domestic scene is not good here at all - just about at the bottom and likely to bounce along there for quite some time to come.
However nobody died.

The only difference that I can see between us and Greece is that we quickly realised that the party was over and we swallowed the hangover pill straight away - the hangover just gets worse otherwise.

Brian