Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to seek clarification on my last question. I put a question to the Governor of the Irish Central Bank, Professor Honohan, about the costs of recapitalisation. He said it would amount to some €40 billion but Professor Ahearne said it would be much less than that. How much does he think it will be?

I asked earlier if the fiscal adjustment would have been less or more had we allowed Anglo Irish Bank or another bank to fail. The professor said that, as of today, the saving would be just a couple of hundred million euro. Can he clarify those two points?

Dr. Peter Bacon said in his closing remarks that the main causes were interest rate deductibility for investors, low interest rates, capital inflows and interbank lending. If that were true and a Government could see there was going to be a boom in, say, six years' time, what kind of lead-in time would it need to act to alleviate the difficulties coming down the line?