Well, surely that's partially due to something I did cover, which is the union-Labour link. There is so only far that the likes of David Begg and Jack O'Connor are going to go in stirring up public anger against policies that their own party is advocating. Shortly before Gilmore's speech on the economy, O'Connor made a statement slamming the IBEC proposal for a pay freeze in the private sector; days after Gilmore's speech, in which he made the same proposal, SIPTU circulated the text of that speech to their entire mailing list without any comment or criticism. I mean this was the speech where Gilmore said tax credits for union subs should be abolished, and SIPTU are still taking on the role of the Labour press office in getting his message out.
> Secondly, the deep psychological pull of Irish self-congratulation has served to undermine resistance.
That's an interesting take on it. From my (relative) newcomer's perspective I actually see it more as the deep psychological culture of Irish deference to authority. The Irish political leadership, the European political leadership, all those familiar voices in the mainstream media, all insisting things HAVE to be done this way, and sure who are we to disagree? (And where did all that protest get the Greeks and French anyway?) People here might be angry - really angry - but they still can't bring themselves to believe that maybe their leaders really are getting it all wrong (again).