Ms Geraldine Kennedy:

It was not ever discussed informally at the board. It was not that it was not minuted - it was never discussed at the board of The Irish Times. Individual board members at different times might have asked why I was not doing this, that or the other, and I would say to them "Well, that is not the policy that I intend pursuing at this time." There was a point, for example, at which the new chairman, David Went, asked why I would not write an editorial supporting the banks and I said I had not yet done so because the haircut had not been announced and I was waiting to see how much taxpayers would have to pay. I would not be doing an editorial in the interest of the banks but in the interests of our readers and taxpayers. I basically said that if he had any issue with that we could have a discussion on the board about it. There never was a discussion.