Mr. Brendan Walsh:

It would be premature to comment on what the outcome of the investigations and the steps that have been taken about the audit role in our particular mess will be. There was a discussion on that issue earlier where it was stated that there are proceedings that are not yet complete and it would be premature for the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority to comment on them. Some of these have shifted into the area of possible criminal prosecutions and one cannot prejudice those. Going back to the Senator's broader question, I think these things go in cycles to a certain extent. Just like the bubble in the housing market or in the stock market there tends to be a crash after which there is a period of soul searching and rebuilding of confidence slowly, perhaps, for five or ten years, and gradually the lessons of the past are forgotten and the same pressures build up again. To some extent, in this area, there were periods when standards were lax and crises developed that should have been averted and they have been followed by periods of reform. For example, in the US in the 1930s an immense amount of legislation was introduced, some of which was gradually relaxed in respect of ordinary banks getting involved in investment activity. After a while the lessons and the pain of the 1920s or early 1930s wore off, and some of the regulations were relaxed, the same tragedy was reiterated and we got into another crisis in the 1990s and the last decade partly through having forgotten what was learned during the previous crisis. To some extent there is a cycle and I think I know where we are in regard to that in this situation.

We have come through the worst financial crisis in our history as an independent country. We are still suffering the consequences of that in economic terms in terms of austerity, hardship and budgetary pain and we are desperately trying to prevent a recurrence. We are aided by the EU measures that have been discussed in which we will play an important role in trying to implement during the Irish Presidency. I see ourselves as moving back into a more cautious reformist period in regard to the substance of what this authority deals with. As outlined in the presentation by the outgoing-----