Mr. William Beausang:

There would've been no discussions. I mean, if you're, you know ... if solvency ... in talking about solvency, you're talking about, you know, risks of losses on assets, on loans ... that was never on the agenda or never part of the discussions at the DSG. I mean, from the outset and from July 2007 or, certainly, August 2007, it was very much around the liquidity crisis that was impacting internationally but, obviously, impacting disproportionately on the Irish banks. So, I mean, at what point in time? I mean, the question was asked earlier around, "Well, wasn't the share prices for those institutions saying that there was a difficulty?" But I mean, a year before that, the share prices had been ... might have been interpreted as saying that these were very strong institutions with a very bright future, so the amount of reliance or the information content of share prices is open to question.

But, at a point in time certainly, and I suppose it probably would be September 2008, you know, the realisation hit home in the Department that there was very ... that those concerns were concerns that would have to be addressed and examined and understood in advising Government on the way forward in dealing with the crisis in the financial system. And that then informed the approach, well let's ... "Doesn't someone have to come in and look at the loan books here?" And the, kind of, time spent in setting somebody up to that, and arranging for that to happen, and it, ultimately, happening at a very late stage with that advice, without ... with that information coming through, I think, the Sunday before, the day before the guarantee meeting.