Ireland

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Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen (right) and Irish President Mary McAleese (second from left) arrive at Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the Irish president, in Dublin on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, to sign a request for a Proclamation of Dissolution of the Irish parliament. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen, left, announces his resignation as leader of Ireland's dominant Fianna Fail party on Saturday, Jan, 22, 2011, in Dublin. Cowen announced Saturday that he has resigned as leader of Ireland's dominant Fianna Fail party but intends to keep leading the government through the March 11 election. Opposition chiefs demanded his immediate ouster as premier. (AP Photo/Julien Behal/PA Wire)

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Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen waves to photographers after winning a crucial vote of confidence by his party at Government Buildings, in Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011. (AP Photo / Peter Morrison)

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** FILE ** Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen speaks during a media conference at a European Union summit in Brussels on Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

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Carmel Stewart, a lawyer of the three women victims of restrictions on abortion in Ireland, reads the judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in the Grand Chamber Thursday Dec. 16, 2010, in Strasbourg, eastern France. Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion violates the rights of pregnant women to receive proper medical care in life-threatening cases, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday in a judgment that harshly criticized Ireland's long inaction on the issue. (AP Photo/Christian Lutz)

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Carmel Stewart, a lawyer of the three women victims of restrictions on abortion in Ireland, reads the judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in the Grand Chamber Thursday Dec. 16, 2010, in Strasbourg, eastern France. Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion violates the rights of pregnant women to receive proper medical care in life-threatening cases, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday in a judgment that harshly criticized Ireland's long inaction on the issue. (AP Photo/Christian Lutz)

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Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen speaks to the media in Dublin on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010, on the European Union's $113 billion bailout deal to help debt-struck Ireland with its banking crisis.

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Cranes stand above the unfinished Anglo Irish Bank that was to be the bank's new headquarters in central Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. Ireland unveiled the harshest budget measures in its history Wednesday, a four-year plan to claw back $20 billion using spending cuts and extra taxes. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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A woman clears debris from the office of Ireland's Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey TD of the Fianna Fail party that was vandalized and painted with the words 'traitors' in the village of Trim, 30 miles north west of Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. Lawmakers in Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen's own party mounted a rebellion Tuesday to try to oust him, an effort that could trigger a snap election and delay a massive EU-IMF bailout of Ireland. At stake is the future course of the potentially Euro100 billion ($135 billion) European Union and International Monetary Fund rescue of Ireland, a nation heading toward bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Workmen repair the office of Ireland's Transport Minister Noel Dempsey after it was was vandalised and painted with the words: 'traitors' in the village of Trim, 30 miles north west of Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. Lawmakers in Prime Minister Brian Cowen's own party mounted a rebellion Tuesday to try to oust him, an effort that could trigger a snap election and delay a massive EU-IMF bailout of Ireland. Dempsey is one of Cowen's loyal lieutenants. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Brokers look at the main screen at the Stock Exchange in Madrid Tuesday Nov. 23, 2010. Spain's borrowing costs have soared in a sale of 3- and 6-month bills amid fears the country could be affected by contagion from Ireland's debt crisis.The central bank says the treasury was obliged to pay 1.7 percent in average interest to sell euro2.1 billion ($2.87 billion) in 3-month bills, nearly double the 0.95 percent rate paid in the last such auction Oct. 26. The auction Tuesday came as Madrid's Ibex 35 bourse dipped for the second day in a row amid concerns over Spain's ability to handle its debt in the wake of European Union's bailout of Ireland. Spain's economy is struggling to emerge from nearly two years of recession. (AP Photo/Paul White)

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Sinn Fein hold a protest outside government buildings, Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010 during a demonstration calling for the Irish Prime Minister to resign. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout, the government says as a shellshocked nation comes to grips with its failure to protect its financial institutions. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Sinn Fein protesters outside Leinster House, which serves as the parliament building, in Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Sinn Fein supporters protested the government's handling of the economic crisis and called on the Irish Prime Minister to resign. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout, the government says as a shellshocked nation comes to grips with its failure to protect its financial institutions. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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A protester holds a banner reading 'Fianna Fail (Ireland's governing party) Traitors Out now. Elections before negotiations' outside government buildings, Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout, the government says as a shellshocked nation comes to grips with its failure to protect its financial institutions. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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A Irish Army Military police officer confronts Sinn Fein protesters who broke through the gates at goverNment buildings, Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010 as they called for the Irish Prime Minister to resign. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout, the government says as a shellshocked nation comes to grips with its failure to protect its financial institutions. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Irish police officers remove Sinn Fein protesters from inside the gates of government buildings in Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. The Sinn Fein protesters are calling for the Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen to resign over the unfolding financial crisis. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Newspaper headlines in central Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout, the government says as a shellshocked nation comes to grips with its failure to protect its financial institutions. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Workers put up a sale sign in central Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout, the government says as a shellshocked nation comes to grips with its failure to protect its financial institutions. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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A man walks past a mural in South Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Ireland's banks will be pruned down, merged or sold as part of a massive EU-IMF bailout taking shape, the government said Monday, as a shell shocked nation came to grips with its failure to protect and revive its banks. Crucially, some experts say the rescue may have come too late to save the next weak link, Portugal, from a similar fate. Ireland's crisis also appears likely to force the early departure of its deeply unpopular government, calling into doubt the credibility of Prime Minister Brian Cowen's four-year austerity plans.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

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Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, left, and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan speak to the media at the government building in Dublin, Ireland, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010. Debt-crippled Ireland formally applied Sunday for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks, joining Greece in a step unthinkable only a few years ago when Ireland was a booming Celtic Tiger and the economic envy of Europe. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)