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

Thank you, Chairman. Mr. McCarthy, earlier, when I was asking you about analysis of other crashes, you referenced Japan. Can I ... as the chief ... or one of the countries that have been examined, why were we analysing a country with an independent monetary policy, given that our own monetary policy is exogenous and, you know, it's a complete difference from Japan, I suppose? And, furthermore, you referenced, when you were talking about why the soft landing theory gained such traction, that in Ireland we hadn't had reductions in property values before. Is it not a central tenet of macroeconomic forecasting that you don't derive future outcomes from localised past history?