# The Irish government has unveiled a 4-year austerity plan of spending cuts and new taxes required to qualify for a bail out package of some 85 Billion euros. Ireland called for the aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to overcome a debt crisis triggered by massive bank losses and by the the drain on government coffers when Dublin bailed out failing Irish banks. A leading trade unionist has described the plan as "a road map for the Stone Age."
