Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Beausang will give in evidence today that his e-mail records show that at 21:11, he's very precise about that, so that's 11 minutes past nine, and I'm going back to the night of the guarantee now ... switch your head ... he received a document intended to be a draft Government press release announcing the introduction of a guarantee for the domestic banks:

It appears to have been authored earlier in the evening in the Central Bank in advance of the commencement of the meeting in Government Buildings. My electronic files show ... I was subsequently involved over the next twenty minutes or so in preparing a revised draft of the statement which set out its intended scope.

I wonder if you can explain to us why there was, in existence, at such an early stage, a press release that said a guarantee has been agreed, when in fact people were still in ... still with the Taoiseach, having the conversation about whether there would be a guarantee.