We don't yet know what the strings will be. So far the Irish Government has been making all the running in tying itself up in knots all by itself with no need for help from anyone else - as in the 15 Billion cuts in public expenditure programme it is about to announce and which pre-dates ECB/IMF involvement (if not consultation).  

The IMF may turn out to be a convenient bogeyman to frighten the public sector unions, but the sense I have is that the Irish Govt. has been leading the charge to rein in public expenditure, and particularly public administration costs as well as the value of income transfer and resource entitlement programmes.

Index of Frank's Diaries