Professor Niamh Hardiman:

The Irish Government had more segmented relationships with the banks. It tended to deal with them one at a time. It did not have the corporate interlinkages that have existed in Denmark. That was a problem in respect of the flow of information between the Government and banks. I refer not only to the flow of information between the banks and the regulator. The Government did not necessarily understand what was going on inside the banks. There was a moment when some kind of networked solution looked like it might be getting off the ground in Ireland. Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, for example, might have become involved in offering some assistance or support to Anglo Irish Bank. It did not happen, as I understand it, because it was thought to be unnecessary at the time, again because of a dearth of information. When it did become necessary, it was effectively too late for everyone. Therefore, there was a drift to a point of no return. The real problems I am interested in trying to identify lie further back, in governance relationships. Weaknesses might have arisen that made problems-----