The refusal of former head of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet to attend the planned Oireachtas banking inquiry has been described as "arrogant in the extreme" by Fine Gael MEP candidate Simon Harris.

Mr Trichet made it clear yesterday he had no intention of attending the inquiry, saying ECB rules would not permit it.

“If the rule was changed, I would apply the new rule,” he said in an interview with Newstalk. “All decisions are taken collectively by all members of the governing council and the responsibility of explaining decisions are in the hands of the governments,” he added.

Mr Trichet said the bank guarantee in 2008 was a decision taken by the Government without consultation. "In the case of Ireland, the situation is particular because Ireland was the first country to decide to guarantee its banks and I remember the other countries, not realising the extent to which the crisis was dramatic, were infuriated because Ireland had started the guarantee," he said.

'Arrogant and dismissive'
In response, Mr Harris, a candidate in Ireland South, said it was arrogant and dismissive for any ECB member to hide behind rules. "It is plain wrong to state that rules imposed by the ECB on the ECB mean that the former ECB head cannot appear before the banking inquiry."

Also yesterday, a former adviser to the European Commission described the European Union's treatment of Ireland throughout the crisis as "outrageous". Philippe Legrain, who advised commission president José Manuel Barroso, said Ireland's treatment amounted to "bullying" by the ECB and the commission.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Legrain said it was a mistake for the previous government to guarantee all Irish bank debts, but it was outrageous for the ECB to threaten to force Ireland out of the monetary union. The behaviour amounted to the "very opposite of solidarity".

Mr Legrain claimed the bullying came mostly from Germany and France, whose banks were exposed in Ireland. He said other European banks should have been forced to suffer losses, and that if Irish Ministers had faced down the ECB, it would have backed down.