Professor Patrick Honohan:

It was a game of chicken but ... not real ... a game of chicken, it's you know, you either fall over the cliff or you don't fall over the cliff. But it would not like that, because the ECB could say, "Well, this is a very bad situation and so as a result of that we are going to apply this additional rule, this additional cost, this additional, exceptional, supplementary burden", which they have the right and power to do. So, unfortunately for Ireland, there always is the potential in this situation for a graduated pressure, and this is something that is not often recognised. People say, "Oh, they would always have given ELA." Probably they would, but maybe on terms that would make it very, very uncomfortable and costly.