We know from the publicity Ireland generated last year as it faced the crisis on the sovereign debt markets that the London newspapers are not the calmest or sanest when it comes to discussing the strains of a euro zone member.

It can be particularly hard to distinguish between the alarmist and the real when wading through the commentary from the generally europhobic participants in the big London-based sovereign debts markets.

Some tend to revel in the crisis facing the peripheral and over-borrowed eurozone countries, including Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. Having gouged on cheap European Central Bank money, the gang of five as identified by the acronym PIIGS are now popularly portrayed as paying the necessary price. (The London markets' view takes no account that British sovereign debt is heading toward 100% of its GDP. Britain is rarely identified in any acronym of the most indebted.)

But one man best placed to adjudicate whether Greece is facing a crisis, and the implications for Ireland and the rest of the euro zone, is Chris Pryce, a director at Fitch Ratings in London.

Pryce was the analyst who before Christmas decided that the so-called dodgy Greek budgetary sums were unspooling. Athens had suddenly discovered that its accounting hole was, not a meager 4% of GDP as it had told Brussels, but, at more than 12%, was greater than that of Ireland's annual deficit.

Pryce led the worldwide charge to downgrade the credit worthiness, or ratings, on Greece. Ever since, the sovereign debt markets have bid up the cost of Greece borrowing for 10-years to 6.25% ? almost exactly the level Irish rates hit during the crisis weeks last March and April.

For an Irish audience, Pryce is better placed than most to judge on Greece and the fallout for Ireland. He is also one of a handful of analysts in the world who is most influential in deciding Ireland's creditworthiness, deciding on Irish ratings for Fitch. Arguably, his perceptions on Greece and Ireland will help determine the interest rates the two countries will pay to service increasing national debts. But Pryce bluntly states that Greece really is facing a big crisis.

"Yes, it is as bad as the [London] papers say it is," he told the Sunday Tribune. "Greece is in a very difficult position. The price on 10-year bonds has shot up in last week to 6.25%. We are in uncharted waters." he said. "I led the last ratings downgrade last time. We have to see what happens to the [government tax] receipts and wait to see to see how the markets react."

Higher interest payments could lead to a vicious circle that requires Athens to deflate the economy even more. The next key date, due in about three weeks, is the ruling by the European Commission on Greek austerity plans.

The countdown is similar to the events Ireland faced early last spring when famously the then German finance minister gave his backing to Ireland's austerity plans and by proxy, sanctioning European Commission support.

Even then it took months for the markets to cut Irish bond rates. "The Irish government grabbed the initiative itself and more or less the European Commission decision [on its plan to cut the deficit] was a foregone conclusion," Pryce said.

But the stakes are undoubtedly higher again for Athens because its finances have slumped at a time when very few have complete confidence that the Greek government's figures are believable, he said. There is a widespread belief that Greece qualified for eurozone membership by presenting dodgy economic figures a decade ago. "The whole receipts of the last 10 years have been put under the spotlight," said Pryce.

Athens faces the credibility deficit because it needs to achieve what many believe is the near impossible target of getting its finances within the 3% ceiling by the end of 2012 – two years before Ireland.

It has to do it because Athens sees it as the only way to regain trust of the markets. And here is the nub of the crisis, said Pryce – the higher the interest rates rise, the bigger its service costs and the bigger the part of its expenditures it will have to cut. It would be the experience of Ireland in the 1980s, only this time speeded into quick time in the case of Greece.

"By historical standards, the cuts required next year and the following year will be quite savage," said the Fitch ratings expert.

Fitch sees Greek gross debt rising to 120% of GDP this year and increasing further, probably to 124%, next year. Irish gross debt, including the Nama debt is seen peaking at 110% next year.

The ratings agencies, including Fitch and Moody's, and the markets include Nama in calculating Irish debt because even though no Nama bond debt will trade on secondary markets, it remains a liability on the Irish taxpayers.

But whisper it, there are some benefits for Ireland, say international analysts. Amid the crisis, the difference, or spread, between Irish sovereign interest rates and those of Germany narrowed briefly or were fairly stable.

Government officials interviewed by the Sunday Tribune last week also expressed considerable relief that the euro fell back against sterling, amid the Greek crisis.

In short, bigger problems facing Greece take the heat off Dublin. But Ireland will continue to be joined at the hip with Greece.

"A crisis feeling has emerged in Athens and that is necessary for an adjustment," Dietmar Hornung, Moody's Ireland expert in Frankfurt told the Sunday Tribune. Comparing it with Ireland, Dublin has shown in the past that it has reformed its finances and Ireland could be an example of how a eurozone government can adjust.

On the benefits of a lower euro, Hornung said: "It is nice when it happens but it is not the solution."

Ireland may have a case for extending the EU's 2014 deadline to get its finances into order, Hornung said. "It is part of the balancing act. Obviously there may be a case to extend it. But at the same time it is crucial that the country continues to be able and willing to use the crisis to carry out reforms -- and the efforts have to be front loaded," he said.

Moody's sees Irish gross debt, including Nama, peaking at 130% of GDP next year. Excluding Nama, the debt will measure 95% of GDP, said Hornung.

Despite the Greek crisis, Moody's did not see any new looming test facing Ireland.But expect to hear a lot more about the PIIGS acronym from London commentators in the months ahead.