Professor John FitzGerald:

In 2007 we were warning about the risk to the financial system. I just go back and say I made a mistake. We were not ignorant of the fact that there was a major problem, but I just thought we might escape it. When Deputy Higgins read what I had said, the tone rather made me cringe - the tone of certainty that we would get out of it. We got it wrong, but there was a lot of information that there were problems and we were concerned about the issue. It is just that I plumped for and said we would get out of it without a crisis. Going back to Deputy Pearse Doherty's very useful clarification of what I had said, looking at it now, we were not going to escape unchallenged. I do not think I have fully answered his question.