Mr. David McWilliams:

I had been told at the time that the ECB was saying that no European bank could go under at any stage. I wrote at the time that if that was the ECB's directive, it should pay for the consequences of this policy. If one thinks about it, in the case of a bank going under, only four groups or institutions can pay for it: the taxpayers of Ireland, the taxpayers of Europe, the ECB itself, by injecting a promissory note-type instrument, or the creditors. We had the choice and we did not seem to negotiate. I have no idea why. I think this is the European element, which I am sure the committee is coming up to, as to what the ECB involvement in all this was.