Note that the spendthrift Irish have a per capita debt of $549,819.
Its not so much spendthrift, just a demontration that fuelling growth by a combination of low taxation, credit and reducing regulation doesn't work.
Can we foreclose on the Emerald Isle?
You can try, but due to the right wing approach to business and finance that was practiced there are no real assets to sieze only fictional ones so forclosure doesn't get you anything