The Green Party leader and former cabinet Minister Eamon Ryan has said he believed the Irish Government was put under pressure to save the banks during the financial crisis in 2008.
Mr Ryan, who was the Minister for Communications during the last Government, said he felt the Government was under pressure from the ECB.
It follows comments by the family of the late Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who strongly rejected comments made about Mr Lenihan by former ECB Chief Jean Claude Trichet.
At a press conference in Dublin, Trichet this week denied that he ever phoned Mr Lenihan to order him to "save your banks at all costs".
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Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan said the Government at the time were presented with many options.
"My experience is the ECB had a very strong role in saying we shouldn’t be burning the bondholders," he said.
"My experience was they did push us into a deal. It was done through the media, and not by direct communication with the Government.
"There are lessons to be learned in Europe around that, and we should be going to Europe to share those lessons because they are very real, and very pertinent."