Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Professor Black. I want to ask about the inclusion of subordinated debt in the guarantee. He is highly critical of it and makes the point that the Irish response was the worst in history because of the inclusion of subordinated debt. What possible justification could there have been for including subordinated debt? I want to put the figures in context. The guarantee was €375 billion. The amount of subordinated debt included was €12.2 billion and, of this, €1.4 billion was actually redeemed during the guarantee, which expired in September 2010. It is a very important but relatively small proportion of the overall amount. Why does Professor Black say because of this it was the worst response in history? Why, possibly, was it included?