Ireland would have burned the bondholders of Anglo Irish Bank in 2011, but the European Central Bank again scuppered the deal.
That's according to the former secretary general at the Department of Finance, giving evidence at the Banking Inquiry.
John Moran says negotiations with the ECB were still taking place as Michael Noonan went to the Dáil with plans to announce that bondholders were being burned.
But the Minister's speech had to be rewritten at the last minute because the ECB threatened consequences for Ireland if bondholders were burned:
A former secretary-general of the Department of Finance says there was no costless option available to the government on the night of the guarantee.
Kevin Cardiff has told the Banking Inquiry that it was clear on the night that something had to be done and done urgently.
He says there were a range of options available and ready - from nationalisation to the guarantee and large scale loans to the banks.
Mr Cardiff says he is clear that action had to be taken.
It has also emerged that the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Sean FitzPatrick, asked the Central Bank for some sort of guarantee five months before the government guarantee in 2008.
Kevin Cardiff has told the Banking Inquiry that Mr FitzPatrick's request was followed by discussions with a litany of senior bankers and others who suggested a guarantee might be welcome.
But he says the final guarantee introduced by the government was not exactly the one the banks had wanted:
He also revealed that a special group had been set up to discuss a banking crisis, within the Department, while Brian Cowen was minister.
Mr Cardiff was in charge of the banking unit in the Department of Finance at the time of the guarantee.
He also claimed that foreign governments started to spread rumours of Ireland going into a bailout, long before a decision was made.
Much of Mr Cardiff's evidence has already been leaked and the Banking Inquiry has called the gardaí to investigate how this happened.
Ian Guider of the Sunday Business Post spoke to Newstalk Lunchtime today about Mr Cardiff's evidence.
He told Jonathan Mr Cardiff says he, along with then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, strongly pressed for the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank:
