The Trichet letters

Sean Whelan: Money talks, and the guys who print the money talk loudest

We all like the idea of firm and decisive action – except when it happens to us. And it did happen to us. The release of the Trichet-Lenihan correspondence shows us in four snapshots the evolution of the crisis that tipped Ireland into a bailout programme.

Much has been made of the November 19 letter, and its demand that Ireland make fiscal and structural reforms within a troika-funded programme, in return for continued ...