This morning, a 2010 letter from the ECB to the Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, was published in the morning papers.

In the letter, the ECB threatened the Irish Government that it would withdraw emergency funding to banks unless they applied for a bailout.

However, the ECB have since stated Ireland was not pushed into a bailout and that the domestic crisis made this necessary.

Mary O’Rourke, aunt of Brian Lenihan, and herself a former Fianna Fail minister, spoke about the ECB letters today and about the decisions her nephew had to make, stating that the ECB bullied the Government into the decision and were forcing the bailout.

She spoke about the impact this had on Brian's life: "I knew the envelope into which he was being stuck, I knew what he was working at, I knew what he was trying to do but he never tried to off load it to anyone else."

"He never sought pity. Never, never, never. He shouldered what God had given him. He had utmost faith in life. 

"Where there is life, there is hope."

She also stated that Brian was aware that his cancer was terminal during the period.