Mr. Brian Cowen:

Because it stopped the spend in the economy that would have otherwise happened, if it weren't diverted. One of the biggest problems you'll have, if you ever get ... you know, if people ever have positions of responsibility, the one thing that's as bad as having a budget deficit is having a budget surplus and the fact of the matter is that that 1% diversion into the national pension fund, which grew to about €34 billion by the end of its term before the recent catastrophe, that that was money which could well have been spent elsewhere and in other ways without the same effect.