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

Okay. Can I put an assertion to you, Mr. McCreevy, that the ingredients of what would eventually become a major crisis were very much in place by the autumn of 2004. For example, there was a rapid expansion of the balance sheets of the banks in the two or three years leading up to the end of your tenure.

There was a growing dependence on property lending by the banks at that time, a growing dependence on wholesale funding from the international market. The states were becoming increasing dependent on transaction taxes and, from 2001, current expenditure was growing at a faster rate than nominal GDP every year and there was a distinct lack ... or, loss of competitiveness from 2000-2001. Now, all of those elements, it could be argued, certainly accelerated after your tenure but do you accept that those ingredients were in place when you departed Merrion Street in the autumn of 2004?