Mr. Brian Cowen:

I don't accept ... I don't accept for a moment that none was happening. We had made ... we had taken the largest number ... the largest size of adjustment vis-à-visour GNP in the previous three years. He didn't have to talk to us about bold steps, we knew what bold steps were. But we also had to make sure that they were realistic ... politically realistic steps. I mean, there's some people in the euro system who thought if you have a deficit of €15 billion why can't you take €10 billion off it next year? I mean they don't have a responsibility of answering to people here. We're democratically elected. We have to have our input on what we believe is possible and responsible while at the same time being committed to the same targets they're committed to. Bankers have ... you know these guys have that luxury. They don't have to worry about what the impact of all this might be on people. We do.