Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Honohan goes on to talk about that that growth amount that he said contained risk was triggered by a number of banks. He concluded that this was a very obvious and public danger sign, not only to these two banks which he referred to, not Ulster here, but because of the potentially destabilising effect of reckless competition on the entire sector. You yourself, Mr. McCarthy, summed up as follows, "Despite Ulster Bank Group's significant growth during this period [that is 2004 to 2007] it is probably fair to say that the Bank's competitive position at the end of this period was, in reality, no different to that which it found itself in at the start." Could I ask you, would it be fair to sum up the situation in this way or not, that you all engaged in vicious competition, you all massively overextended in terms of property loans, you created a huge bubble and crash that devastated countless lives around Ireland, and apart from short-term profits which you had in a few years, you all finished up in mutually assured destruction? Would that be fair or not as a summation of what happened between you?