If Cowen actually believes the IMF may need to be called in, that the economy is in such dire straits, then his first duty is to communicate this directly to the Irish people...not break it to them secondhand while over in Japan (of all places...).
Wouldn't be the first time he bumbly blundered.
Remember when he announced that Ireland was committed to a second referendum on Lisbon -- to an audience of europeans in Brussels, rather than to the Irish people themselves.