Professor Alan Ahearne:

I think Ireland should have been allowed to discount senior bank bonds, in particular the Anglo bonds. I think the Europeans have given their reasons why they didn't think that was in the Irish interest or in their interest and I think a big part of the reason was they felt there would be contagion to ... elsewhere in the euro area. So, that does mean that Ireland ends up having a higher cost for systemic ... in order to save ... for systemic reasons. That said, you know, Ireland ... there were various things done that saved Ireland a lot of money. For example, the reductions in the interest rates in the summer of 2011. So, although there was stuff taken away on one hand, there was a break given on the other hand and how all those things ... how they all net off is a difficult ... difficult calculation.