Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Yes, okay. Let me be more specific then. In your letter then to the Minister for Finance on the 19th November you said "It is the position of the Governing Council that it is only if we receive in writing a commitment from the Irish Government, vis-à-vis the Eurosystem on ... four ... points that we can authorise further provision of [emergency liquidity]." And then you say that a request must be sent to the Eurogroup. "The request shall include the commitment to undertake decisive actions in the areas of fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and financial sector restructuring." , what we call savage austerity in Ireland. Mr. Trichet, plain people, plain-speaking people in Ireland would call that blackmail. Would they be justified?