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

Now finally, Mr. Cowen, I'm not sure if you heard Mr. McCreevy's evidence yesterday when he was asked about budgets approaching elections. But I want to ask you about the approach to the 2007 general election and what impact pre-budget submissions and follow-up meetings with industry organisations and the imminent nature of an election, what that had in terms of impact on your approach to the budget? And I say it in the context of what Governor Honohan said in his report when he looked at public spending and he says on page 30 of that report, "And in a final twist, real expenditure rose by over 11 per cent in both 2007 and 2008, an unfortunate late burst of spending which boosted the underlying deficit at almost the worst possible time." How do you react to that?