Mr. Brian Cowen:

Well I mean the fact of the matter is it was in our interests, let's be clear about it, it's in our interests to go into the programme at that point. And what the programme provides us with was a fiscal framework at an affordable price which was not available anywhere else to do what needed to get done as difficult as it was. So that was one aspect of it.

The other aspect that you're raising with me is, would the central bank have carried out their threat to withdraw liquidity? Well the central bank had made it very clear at their governing council meeting earlier that month that the present situation could not continue indefinitely. It doesn't mean ... what does that mean? It means that a resolution had to be found, a policy response had to be created that wouldn't be on the basis of status quoplus. And it was in our interests too by the way to find a way of restructuring our banking system, of finding a way of downsizing the balance sheets and getting confidence from the international community again that we had a sustainable banking system. And, you know, so I have to acknowledge all of those facts in terms of ... rather than saying pro-ECB, anti-ECB. I'm not getting into that I'm just saying these are the facts. And when you're in a position of responsibility and when you're in government you have to take all of these things into account. So Professor Honohan says, at the end of the day, doesn't mean that they were going to pull it immediately. I'd probably concur with that. But does that ... where does it get you if the situation is that the present policy isn't sustainable? It is not in our interests if it's not sustainable and it wasn't in their interests. So we had to find a solution to the problem.