Dr. Donal Donovan:

It is a very speculative question. Clearly, the guarantee led to the high costs which, together with the disastrous budgetary situation, is what finally brought the bailout. If the guarantee had been different and if some bank had been allowed to fail, either completely or partially, who knows what would have happened? The immediate direct financial costs would have been less to the extent that they would not have included whichever bank or banks' liabilities were written down or burnt.