Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas sourceM00200 type: 1 -->

I thank Mr. Carswell for being here. In a speech given in Dublin City Library in 2012, he said:

You hear talk now about Trichet, Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank president, threatening Ireland and some say the fear was that they would withdraw the funding from the Irish banks. I'm not sure they could have done that but what they could have done is put pressure on the Government by increasing the charge and increasing the interest rate on that.

Why did Mr. Carswell say this about the threat of the ECB to withdraw funding? Why would or could it not have done it?