Vodafone anyone?
Vodafone Ireland has had this service in operation for a couple of months now, it's called 'Vodafone IOU'. The deal is it's €2 when your credit runs out, you need at least 0.01c in your a/c to send the text which is a pain in the behind.
Then, when you top up next, they charge you 0.15c for the service they provided.
It's still 0.15 for nothin, but at least it isn't as bad as this Orange deal!