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

Mr. Cowen, when Brian Patterson appeared before this inquiry, he told the committee that there were concerns raised in a joint Central Back and Financial Regulator committee ... the financial stability committee, as I understand it, about the strength with which risks to the banking system should be identified in financial stability reports, in particular, as he put it, "As the clouds gathered." But it was believed that these concerns could be discussed more directly in one-to-one meetings between the Governor and the Minister. So my question is, in the meetings that you held with the Governor discussing the financial stability reports, was it made known to you that there were differences of opinion at board level on the Central Bank about the risks ... about how serious those risks were? To what extent was more emphasis placed, for example, in those discussions on certain aspects of the report than might've been evident from reading them? Did you get more information of a material nature from your discussions with the Governor about the financial stability report than you did by just reading the reports?