Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has insisted the Government applied for a bailout rather than being pressured into the decision.
Mr Lenihan said that "formally and legally" speaking the Government did apply for the €85 billion assistance package but he said there were concerns from the European Central Bank over how much it was "pumping into" Irish banks.
Earlier this week Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he had not been made aware that a bailout was imminent and suggested external influences had pushed the decision on the Government.
"There were people from outside this country who were trying to bounce us in, as a sovereign state, into making an application - throwing in the towel - before we had even considered it as a Government," he said.
When questioned about Mr Ahern's comments tonight, Mr Lenihan, who was speaking on RTÉ news, said historians could argue about how it happened but that "the important thing" was that the State now had access to a programme that would help to lead it out of its financial difficulties.
He said that because of the support the State's banks were receiving from Europe depositors should be totally reassured about their savings.
Mr Lenihan also insisted that the State was in control of its spending and that there was nothing in the forthcoming budget that he would not have implemented in any event.
He said the Government, not the ECB or International Monetary Fund, had drawn up the National Recovery Plan and that while the Government would be in regular contact with the EU and IMF, this was normal practice.
"Those reviews ensure the commitments entered into by the Government in obtaining this lending assistance are complied with. Any lender is entitled to do that," he said.
