Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Context Phase
Mr. Simon Carswell:
No. The ELA was the trigger for the bailout. That was the problem in Frankfurt. The European Central Bank's view was that it had taken on a credit risk with Ireland and it was exposed to Ireland because the State had stood behind the banks. Therefore, it was the State effectively. ELA is not for that purpose, and that is why there was alarm in Frankfurt and that is why there was that pressure that Senator MacSharry and I spoke about earlier.