The Irish mess started when foreign banks and other financial institutions lent money to Irish banks who turned around and created a real estate bubble.  If anyone in that chain had done due diligence they would have KNOWN they were sending good money into a black hole.  

Simply put: there's a case to be made the Irish and foreign financial institutions are guilty of malfeasance.  In which case they can go whistle for their money.  Illegal acts do not constitute a binding contract.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre