Professor Patrick Honohan:

A unilateral action of the type the Deputy is talking about would be taken very poorly indeed by the ECB, which – without over-egging the case – has provided a lot of finance to this country at a low interest rate. There are a number of ways the European Central Bank, if it chose, could find to make things uncomfortable in a graduated way. It is not in that space but I have to think what it might do. It could do things that would make us uncomfortable. I will not give a list because it might give people ideas. The Deputy said it is indebtedness to the private sector but behind it there is an indebtedness between the Central Bank of Ireland and the ECB. This is quite a serious matter. We cannot just say “Oh sorry, we did not pay” as that would be taken badly, not only by the ECB but by-----