That the HuffPost is expressing some kind of surprise/implicating dodgy dealing in Mr. Honohan being both Irish Central Bank head and on the board of the ECB gives some indication of the decline in standards that has occurred there. That it is unaware that Mr. Honohan does not require any additional plaudits to his CV is just poor journalism and smacks of maliciousness.
Anyway, the IMF should have stuck to its guns and refused to participate in either Ireland or Greece without getting to stick to its established plans. This would undoubtedly have resulted in more short-term pain for Ireland, I reckon, as spending cuts would have been required thicker and faster, but we might be looking at an exit from the program at this point.
I think the point is well-made that different programs would have been put in place in non-european countries.