Well, we'll end up paying €50 Billion plus for toxic bank loans (on property) and a similar amount to recapitalise banks busted by property loans.  That adds up to c. 60% of GDP's worth of public money spent on covering the losses of private property speculators.

So the first problem is ideological: why are taxpayers being made liable for private losses - and thus also removing all semblance of moral hazard.

The second problem is also ideological - we tax income and spending, but not property and speculation - so guess where all the money goes, and why property bubbles ultimately become unsustainable - they aren't related to incomes (and ability to pay rents/mortgages) or real economic value, make Ireland uncompetitive, and unbalance the economy to the point where construction industry becomes 30% of GDP.

The third problem is also ideological. We didn't believe in sufficiently regulating "the markets" when the markets where preciously gaming a system of trust on which we all depended.

notes from no w here