Is there a Left alternative?

On this evening's Tonight with Vincent Browne: The eurozone crisis never went away - guests Richard Boyd Barrett, Sarah McInerney, Andrew Doyle and David Cullinane discuss the grim prospect of another bailout in light of Ireland's serious sovereign debt. {jathumbnailoff}

Things are again looking bleak for the Irish and European economies with the prospect emerging of Ireland needing another bailout in 2014 or before. This, on top of present policies of the government and the troika, would involve even more savage austerity. But is there an alternative? And if so, what does Ireland’s Left propose – and for the purposes of tonight’s programme, we regard Sinn Fein as “left”.

If the Left is opposed to a property tax and if the Left has contributed to a sense that taxation is bad, through its un-nuanced opposition to the household charge, how can it propose to fix the €15bn-plus fiscal gap, if, as the Left argues, we should vote No to the fiscal treaty, thereby surrendering the prospect of another EU rescue package? 

We're curating tonight's #vinb tweets below, and Vincent will respond to issues raised on Twitter and in the comments afterwards. 

 Refresh the page for updates.

Update 00.29am: See here for Vincent's response.

Image top: Tom Szustek.