Professor Patrick Honohan:

I want to be very careful in my language obviously because I am only one of 25 people who make these decisions on the governing council of the ECB. While there are different perceptions in different places, irrespective of the perception, the views of all those whose views I understand, given what has happened in the past few years is to try to ensure our decisions are removed from the political process. The Deputy might say, "That is ridiculous. How could you say that because there are certain consequences?" However, if it is considered in a more granular way, with various decisions being taken at various deadlines, then it becomes evident that the ECB is following the rules; above all, the ECB is governed by law. The Deputy says it has a lot of power, but it is also governed by law, as well as by a mandate. The law constrains it in what it can do. It cannot lend without sufficient collateral. It is in a situation where it deemed Greek Government bonds to be eligible collateral, only on the grounds that the Greek Government was committed to a programme that would get it safely, financially, out of the situation in which it found itself. That was the decision taken back - I cannot remember the date - in 2010. When this assurance was no longer present earlier this year, the ECB was then in a tight legal situation; what was it to do? Without going into the details because I cannot remember the ins and outs of it, the decision taken was that the safest decision politically, in other words non-politically, was to cut it at that point rather than become tangled in a negotiation that involved saying, "Maybe the ECB will pull it if you don't behave yourselves tomorrow. Just say 'No'". The decision of the governing council has been clear, as set out in a number of statements.