Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The question about ... and there's a view that ... the guarantee happens in September '08, Anglo gets nationalised at the beginning of '09 and NAMA gets to work, and then two years later you have this great movement as part of the bailout to finally bring a solution to the banking problem in Ireland. And you provided a memo to us written on 15 October 2008 in which you write to the NTMA, the regulator and Central Bank, the Attorney General and the Department, and you say:

I think we need to think about A. What recapitalisations might be required

B. What consolidations might be required

C. Whether any nationalisations might be required

You say that at the time, it was simply clear that the guarantee would need to be supplemented by other efforts and we may as well get started or restarted. And that was October 2008. And then when you go to the memorandum of understanding for the bailout, you have recapitalisations, consolidations and quasi-nationalisations and you've got a four-month timeline to complete those. So what was happening in the two years then from guarantee to bailout that prevented that work from happening that you then implemented very quickly once the bailout was agreed?