Professor Patrick Honohan:

No I did not see it like that at all. I wanted to make absolutely clear that I was not in any way causing problems with the flow of evidence by leaving something in the Official Report that was misleading. I wanted to send the letter. I know that in the Central Bank we have scanned 100,000 documents. If this was 100,001 would anybody ever notice it? The Chairman has often emphasised this is something in the public arena, people are watching. It is important to get it right. Maybe that was in my mind, to get it out there. Should I have waited a couple of days for a response? I can see the Deputy might think that. I thought it was a constructive approach.