Mr. David McWilliams:

I had never met the late Brian Lenihan before that day. I was on a panel with him; Brendan Keenan, my colleague and economics editor at the Irish Independent; and then member of the Opposition, Deputy Richard Bruton. I had written an article the night before for The Sunday Business Postin which I said exactly what I have just outlined, namely, that the banks were not being truthful. Either they did not know what was happening, which is unforgivable, or they would not admit what was happening, which is another issue.

My recollection was, now that I have the transcript, that the first about half an hour was spent talking about the public sector. I think Brian Lenihan was involved in a partnership negotiation. We talked about the public sector, and there were budget cuts coming. I interjected and said, "We can talk about this all we like - I can read the echoverbatim, but we will put it into the record - but the problem is the banks and that the Irish banks risk going bust in the next couple of months". I cited the Swedish example and I said what was happening in Ireland was exactly what happened in Sweden and in Japan.