Partly as a result of the failures of successive Irish governments, Irish people are now confronted with the same anti-democratic and immiserising consequences the IMF has imposed around the rest of the world. Opposition to the EU-IMF intervention, and to the Irish government's cutbacks (including cuts in the minimum wage and social welfare), must demand a default on bank debt and not just a reorganisation of which sectors of Irish society should bear the cost of debt repayments.