As a European, I don't have the feeling that contagion (of any kind) was contained (at any level). So it didn't work and no, I won't take your word for "if we didn't had done XYZ it would be a lot worst"... It's already as bad as it gets.
It was at Europe's insistence that bank debts were converted into taxpayers' debts. Ireland didn't do it willingly. Whether or not it resulted in any good for Europe, who knows.
One known outcome is that the banks in question were protected from the downside of their commercial decisions and Irish taxpayers will be paying for it for decades to come.
