Mr. Jean-Claude Trichet:

No, I would certainly say, taking into account that the 100% correlation between the creditworthiness of the country and the creditworthiness of the banks, we had, again, a problem which was the problem of the country and the problem of the banks, and it was our duty to express, as we did with other countries ... it's not ... certainly not the case of Ireland ... orally or in a written form, and exactly as I did, the fiscal policy consisting ... or not following the Stability and Growth Pact is a bad one. It was the duty of the ECB to say that and it was equally the duty of the ECB to list the issues where we thought, en âme et conscience, as we say, to the best of our own observation and knowledge in dramatic circumstances where we had already helped Irish ... Ireland more than any other country in the world, it was our duty to list what we considered appropriate. By the way, the Government of Ireland ... and I knew that through Brian, was itself reflecting along all those lines, and it was, you know, referring to what was fortunately in the pipe in Ireland and has been successful in Ireland.