Mr. Brian Cowen:

No, I think, you know, in good times ... as I was saying to you, one of the problems ... the bigger problem than having a current budget deficit for a Minister is having a current budget surplus. And in many respects, the Department of Finance would put the most conservative possible proposal. This is how it was viewed by colleagues anyway, in June in the knowledge that there would be negotiations around that going forward. Now that I have ... I accept that that's not the best practice but, in the context of where we were at, I think that's an explanation, or an indication, to you of what the role that Finance were playing at that time in trying to keep a brake on expenditure way beyond what they would regard as acceptable.