Mr. Brian Cowen:

Two reasons, I think. Two reason, I think. Demographics, as I've explained earlier. Our demographics are different to the European average, much younger population, as I say between 15 and 34, over 1.5 million people, plus the immigration issue that was coming at the same time. So there was ... you could see that there was an increased demand within that period of time, but that's not the only reason. I think there's also the question of being such an open, internationalised economy. If you look at those who were ... who have had the biggest recessions, or the biggest contractions in the economy in the aftermath of this financial crisis, you're looking at Ireland, you're looking at Singapore, you're looking at Korea. Now, they've bounced back quicker, it's true, because a lot of the ... two thirds of the world growth is coming out of the Asian economies now but, in fairness, it's ... being a small ... being a small country, relatively small population, providing the value added services we're doing that are internationally traded, when that whole financial system creaked, a country like us, that doesn't have a big domestic market in what we produce, clearly can't compensate for the loss of ... in the international trade that that represented. So, those are two factors that are exceptional in our case. Plus, as I've admitted, the vulnerability we had to the construction sector as well was another factor that exacerbated the problem.