Professor John McHale:

The ESM being the owner of the Irish banks would not change that particular equation. As the funding markets normalise within the eurozone, certainly the ECB wants to cut back on what is quite exceptional liquidity support to the European banking system, including the Irish banking system. However, it would only do that as funding conditions normalise. I do not believe the ESM becoming an owner of the Irish banks would change the way the ECB would treat individual banks. The way it would treat individual banks would be completely independent of the ownership structure of those banks.