In simple terms - why is the EU bailout so bad for Ireland?

Bullworth, good post. In my opinion the government hasn't been running the country for the last ten years. It has been run from the the Department of the Taoiseach by Bertie and then Brian in conjunction with the Social Partners (the golden circle of union fat-cats and developers and in the background; the bankers). That's the root of most of our problems; the people elected by the people to govern for the people were shoved aside by the vested interest groups that carved up the country. The builders got their tax breaks and the public sector unions got their massive pay hikes and the rest of us were left voiceless.
This link posted on another thread to show our national debt has some very good comments on this topic below.

I think this argument has been running since 2008 regarding regulation. From my experience there is a view in the government and some departments that "better regulation" means more regulation. We need regulation, we need checks and balances, but it has to be the right regulation, not simply more. Also, on a small issue, in my experience also, legislation is written by the regulator. It tends to get handed down the chain and some poor schmuk gets the job of writing the regulation before it's then passed up to the Department for approval.

Anyway, of course it's a bad thing we need the bailout. It's bad because it's a lone to cover debt, it doesn't actually deal with the debt, it's just like getting a new credit card to pay off the old credit card. Look at the media attention, it's very bad for our reputation. Yesterday had to be one of the most embarrassing days I can remember, i doubt we'll ever recover from this internationally.