Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Can I put it to you, Mr. Cardiff, that as far back as January 2008, in a scoping paper on financial stability issues, the Department of Finance was examining very serious matters relating to the Irish banking sector, examined the scenario of an illiquid institution, an insolvent institution, the possibility of examinership for a bank, the need for different legislation and yet, by the end of September, when the crisis hit, nobody had actually checked the underlying health of the banks. And, in essence, a decision was made to guarantee €375 billion of liabilities without comprehensive, complete and accurate information about the health of the banks. So what I'm asking you is why-----