The irony is enormous. After spending more than 100 years striving for Repeal and Home Rule in a partially successful attempt to win their independence from Great Britain, the Irish people have found themselves caught in a much crueler subservience to the bureaucrats of Brussels and the bankers of Berlin. In what is misleadingly being described as an “Irish bailout,” the Irish are about to reap the bitter harvest of two massive mistakes: joining the euro and permitting their government to take responsibility for the debts owed by their giant insolvent banks.