As the European Union attempts to force it to accept an unwanted aid package, Ireland’s government is close to being unable to sell its debt on the open market, a fate that befell Greece last spring. Bond spreads in Spain and Portugal are also rising, with the Portuguese finance minister warning on Monday that his country may soon have to accept a rescue package too.

In the short term the EU will kick the can down the road via a temporary Irish bail-out designed to prevent contagion, just as it did with Greece. They are likely to do the same with Portugal. But it has finally dawned on the EU that a rolling process that places private bank losses on to public balance sheets could leave its governments insolvent too.

Put simply Ireland – like Greece – is on a path to near or complete insolvency. Their fiscal deficit will be 30 per cent of gross domestic product at the end of this year. Irish public debt will be 100 per cent of GDP at the same time, and is expected to reach at least 120 per cent in the next two years, possibly higher. Therefore there will soon need to be a public debt restructuring, regardless of the details of any temporary bail-out package. The important question facing EU policymakers is: how ought this restructuring be conducted?