They WOULD pick the wrong argument

It is entirely reasonable for the Germans, politicians, media and the people, to say that they have had enough of bailing out people: first Greece, then Ireland and who knows what else might be coming their way.

It is, however, typical that they should go for the one thing that actually might help Ireland to get itself out of its mess, just as it had helped to power its economy before the government decided to pump so much money into banks that the huge balloon could not do anything but burst: low corporate tax.

To be fair, Germans had always grumbled about it and the reason is not far to seek. Ireland continued to receive a sizeable largesse from the EU through one fund or another while, or so the Germans thought, "unfairly" undermining the German economy. The answer was self-evident to many of us: stop giving Ireland funds and lower the taxes in Germany.