ECB officials urged to appear at bank inquiry

The ECB has given a cool response to suggestions its officials should appear before the Oireachtas banking inquiry, whose members believe fresh questions have been raised with the release of correspondence from the height of the eurozone crisis.

Letters from its former president Jean-Claude Trichet to the then finance minister, the late Brian Lenihan, show the ECB threatened to cut off vital emergency funding to the country’s banking sector in November 2010 unless the Fianna Fáil-led government immediately sought a bailout and entered an austerity programme.

The ECB said it was releasing four letters — which have been kept secret despite three years of persistent attempts by journalists to view them — to address the “misconception” that it forced Ireland into the €67.5bn bailout programme.