It is, of course, true that the Irish banks (like those in other stressed countries) have been drawing heavily on ECB refinancing facilities during the crisis, especially following the huge outflow of funds that occurred in early 2009 and again in the last few months of 2010.
This access to refinancing has been vital to the continuing operation of the banking system, and it has come at the policy rate. (Let me mention as an aside a curious feature of the current monetary policy environment in the euro area.