The Fighting Irish (that’s the Notre Dame university football team, since you asked) were in Dublin at the weekend, trouncing the US Navy in the Emerald Isle Classic. Other Americans have Ireland in their sights too. Franklin Templeton has emerged as the country’s biggest private sector creditor, holding €6bn of its sovereign debt at the end of June, or 7 per cent of total long-term government debt. The fund manager may have bought half of a €4.2bn bond issue in late July. That is a massive – and massively risky – vote of confidence in Ireland.
上周末，“战斗的爱尔兰人”（The Fighting Irish，如果你要问的话，这是圣母大学(Notre Dame University)的橄榄球队）在都柏林的“翡翠岛经典赛”(Emerald Isle Classic)上完胜美国海军。其他美国人也将目光对准了爱尔兰。富兰克林邓普顿(Franklin Templeton)已成为爱尔兰最大的私人部门债权人，6月底时持有60亿欧元的该国主权债务，占政府总长期债务的7%。在7月下旬发行的42亿欧元债券中，可能有半数被这家基金公司认购。这相当于为爱尔兰投下巨额信任票，但风险也是不言而喻的。