John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Was there an appreciation among those builders and developers of the risks they were taking on, particularly towards the end of the boom period, in terms of the huge sums of money that were being borrowed, often from multiple institutions, as Mr. McDonald mentioned? Or was there a belief, as he touched on in his statement, that this was just going to continue, that these people had always turned a profit and would continue always to be lucky?