ECB letter to Lenihan likely to be published

Michael Noonan has signalled that a 2010 ECB letter reportedly forcing a bailout upon Ireland will eventually be published.

The letter to Mr Noonan’s predecessor as finance minister, the late Brian Lenihan, was sent on Nov 19 of that year — just two days before the then government accepted the EU-IMF-ECB bailout.

In the letter, the then ECB president Jean Claude Trichet is said to have threatened the withdrawal of liquidity assistance from Irish banks unless the government entered such a programme.