It has been revealed today that the secret letter sent by the ECB to the then Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan, on November 19 2010, explicitly threatened to cut off all funding unless a bailout agreement was accepted.
The letter was sent by the then ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet.
In essence, the letter asked for written agreement by the Minister for Finance to request monetary assistance from the ECB’s council before any further liquidity for Ireland would be authorized.
Speaking today, economist Paul McCulley referred to the content of the letter as “shocking”, and that it was like “a gun was pointed to the ear of the Government”.
He added that the Minister for Finance had no options left open to him, after receiving such message.
It is understood that further correspondence between the ECB and Brian Lenihan exists. The ECB council is meeting today to discuss the releasing of such correspondence.