Lenihan was to blame for the bank bailout not the ECB

Before the hysteria starts it needs to be pointed out that the tone or content of the ECB letter, while meeting the usual Irish default need to blame someone else, isn’t the point.

The point is that Brian Lenihan and the Cowen government gave in to the threat and when people argue that he had no choice that mythshould be nipped in the bud immediately. Just as the myth that the Kenny government had no choice either is a myth.

The government of Iceland was given the exact same threat when it sought funding from the ECB, the IMF, the World Bank and other countries in 2008.