Daft Property - Irish Property News

Ireland is staring down the barrel of bankruptcy... Why are interest rates for Irish debt rising? Because the risk of a blowout here is rising -- it really is that simple IN THE summer of 1787, determined to show foreign ambassadors the might of Russian power in the newly subjugated Ukraine, Catherine the Great organised a boat trip down the Dnieper, past modern-day Kiev. Her trusted field marshal -- who was also her lover -- Prince Gregory Potemkin organised a series of mobile villages to appear as soon as the imperial barge, stuffed with innocent and gullible foreign dignitaries, came into view. When the boat came within earshot of the river bank, the villagers would break into a spontaneous, sycophantic chorus of praise for the empress, giving the perplexed foreigners the impression that not only had Russia pacified Ukraine, it had also managed to win over the local peasantry -- which was no mean feat in the 18th Century. As soon as the imperial barge turned the corner, the villager...