The president of the ECB Jean-Claude Trichet has said there is no possibility of arranging a medium-term lending facility to provide liquidity for the Irish banking sector.
The Government has been pressing for a medium-term facility in the hope that it would provide greater confidence for the banking sector and thus secure more favourable interbank lending on the open market.
In an interview with RTÉ News, Mr Trichet also appeared to rule out any concessions for the moment on the Government's hopes of imposing losses on senior unsecured bondholders in Anglo Irish bank and Irish Nationwide.
He said that Ireland simply had to apply the EU-IMF programme.
Mr Trichet rejected criticism by the leader of Fianna Fáil Micheál Martin, who said that the ECB had become arrogant and that it risked undermining the single currency because of today's interest rate increase.
Mr Trichet said that the ECB's support for Ireland through its low-interest, fortnightly funding of the Irish banking sector was unprecedented anywhere in the world.
He acknowledged the sacrifices made by the Irish people so far as courageous, adding that Ireland had returned to growth and competitiveness as a result.
