Here is a point by point run-down of the austerity package unveiled Wednesday by the Irish government. Dublin hopes it will be strong enough to quell the current crisis of confidence in the country’s finances – and that the government, with its paper-thin majority, can keep enough public support to make the plan credible. The four-year plan, the brunt of which is suppose to take effect next year, includes cuts in welfare and the minimum wage and higher taxes for Irish citizens. But it maintains the relatively low corporate tax rate that other EU countries have sought to see raised – so far, without success – in their negotiations with Dublin about a planned EU-IMF bailout.
-- European Affairs