Mr. Brian Cowen:

No, we weren't afraid to take difficult decisions, we were prepared to take ... what we ... our position was that we wanted to invest in our skills, invest in our people, invest in public services and invest in infrastructure to qualitatively change the platform from which Ireland could compete in the future. That's what we were doing. My Government ... I've served in Governments at various times, there's never been a fear to take difficult decisions when we felt that was necessary. We felt that the priority was to build the productive capacity of the State at that particular juncture and there was sufficient optimism and positivity about what the future economic growth prospects were to justify that. It wasn't meant to be one that would be sustainable out into the future because you'd obviously have to adapt to a lower growth rate trend thereafter. But its was about ... genuinely about making sure that we didn't take a view that, where the bottlenecks that were coming up in the economy were allowed to stay there ... and that would undermine your ability to compete in the future. There comes a time, sometimes, where you just have to go and make the investments. And we had ... you've got to remember, as I say, democratic governments have to be mindful of the legitimate expectations of their people, that we had, for various reasons in the past, not been able to consider doing things that needed to be done. We know that this ... this society was one that was undergoing huge social change then - and it continues today - and that brings about different house formation policies that's required to meet the diverse needs of different families in our society.

So we were moving, transitioning from a low-wage to a high-wage economy. Yes, I agree that there was an issue in relation to lending growth but that lending growth was a result of an economy driving forward. When the crash stopped, lending stopped. But we always, you know, were of the view, that this was an opportunity that could not be missed. And, I agree, that, you know ... and, by the way, in relation to the turnaround, we were the Government in situthat made the changes - made huge changes - at great, perhaps, difficulty for the people but it had to be done. Because all of us ... I don't distinguish the Government I led from this or any other Government. Every Government goes out to do its duty by its best lights based on the circumstances it's confronted with. All of us have a hope to see the State and the country improve and I believe we are getting back onto the right track. And it's as a result of the work of successive Governments that that happened and I'm glad - even if I'm not in power or I no longer have a political career - I'm glad that this country is getting back where it needs to get to. But I'm also very satisfied that the Government I led took whatever decisions were necessary, regardless of what was going to be the outcome politically. That wasn't the issue. Things were so serious, the right thing had to be done even if it meant a heavy price had to be paid. That's no ... it doesn't matter. In the overall scheme of things, that's not really relevant, to be honest. What's relevant is that we had sufficient response in our society to say, "Look, if it means going back to standards of living of 2004, we'll do it."

If it means, because of our expenditure, our tax levels were back to 2003 levels so that we can come again in the future and progress again, that's the right thing to do and thankfully, the people, despite the hardships, could see that bigger picture - that if you didn't do it, if you delayed making these decisions, yes, the adjustment you'd have to be making would be even greater and might be even more difficult to manage. And I think that's a lesson to be learned and as I say, I want to reiterate again that if it's a fact that any acts or omissions of mine have caused any hardship to any person in this country, I deeply regret that. But our motive and our purpose at all times was, in fact, as I say, to see an ambitious improvement for people. And when something like this hits, you have to change course completely. I did my duty as I saw as best I could and I'm sure it's something that we can return to when I come back tomorrow ... next week.