Mr. Brian Cowen:

Well public interest directors were ... the idea there was that whilst we didn't have ownership of these banks, we believed this was in the interest ... to try and help restore some public confidence in the governance of these organisations to have people who are in there. Okay they are subject to the same fiduciary obligations as every other director because you're a director of the bank, but they are people who have had an experience in their public careers as to ... they would be au faitwith Government policy or public policy and would be bringing that perspective to the table while others from the private sector expertise might be bringing a commercial experience to it. It was a balance if you like, to try and ... to demonstrate (a) that it was important that there be public interest directors and (b) that they would be capable of ensuring that at board level people understood what the public policy priorities of Government would be in respect of how they were conducting their business.