Professor John FitzGerald:

The Government should have acted. The Senator will see in the appendix the list of publications over a continuous period. There was personal frustration which I tried - I think successfully - to cover up. The reason I mentioned the interchange between my father, Garret FitzGerald, and Richard Bruton was that it illustrates the fact that the people of Ireland did not want a change. The information was out there. The ESRI's 2005 medium term review was reported in The Irish Timesand Irish Independentthe following day. People could not have missed what we were saying, yet they went ahead and bought houses and the Government went ahead as if there was no tomorrow. The Taoiseach expressed strong views about doubters at some stage in the period 2005 to 2007. I am not a politician. The members are the people who can answer this.