Professor Patrick Honohan:

From the evidence that I heard, it seems that once things became quite acute there was more, I would say, energy and drive shown in the Department of Finance and the NTMA. They seemed to be more equipped. They recognised the need for legislation and investment bank advisers and so forth. This is what I understood. We know that the regulatory people were caught by surprise. Therefore, it may be not surprising that they were then not able to drive the thing forward. That was as it was described to me in evidence.