Ireland made "discreet" inquiries about getting a bailout from the IMF as early as 2008.
That's according to the former chief civil servant at the Department of Finance, Kevin Cardiff, giving evidence at the banking inquiry.
He says the state needed to be prepared for the prospect that the Bank Guarantee of 2008 - which was underwriting bank liabilities of around €440 billion - did not have its desired effect of removing doubts about Ireland.
Mr Cardiff has also admitted, for the first time, that the State had a contingency plan in place for the withdrawal of the euro,
But he said it would have been "ridiculous" to confirm this before then, as it would be tantamount to telling the world that Ireland may not be creditworthy because it was considering a default that would see it shut out from the single currency.
The Inquiry's also heard claims that economists in the Department were ordered to change parts of their forecasts if they were politically unwelcome.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News:
