Mr. Frank McDonald:

It is true that the media, including The Irish Times, benefitted enormously from property advertising during the boom period. The media were leaving themselves open to the accusation they were cheerleaders for the property bubble, not least because of revenue they were earning from it. In defence of The Irish Times, I would point out that it not only published Morgan Kelly's Cassandra-like article in December 2006, but it also drew attention to the downsides of all of this in other sections of the newspaper. Kathy Sheridan and I did a series on the commuter counties about people having to get up at 6 a.m., get on the road by 7 a.m. and all the rest of it, if they were to get to work in Dublin by 8.30 a.m. I do not think it is fair to say that the media were uncritical of what was going on. I believe those of us who recognised there was a real problem developing were voicing those opinions.