Ms Cathy Herbert:

It was ... it was difficult obviously. Ministers had to face cuts in their Departments and, I mean, politically it was very difficult. And I think it probably took a while for him to bring that home to Ministers. The speed at which it caught ... it happened was ... caught everybody by surprise. And I think also that during the Celtic tiger era - and a lot of those Ministers would have been Ministers throughout that period ... you know, the Department of Finance crying wolf again was, you know ... might have ... there might have been a fear, "Oh, this is Department of Finance at it again." But he ... so he had to work hard-----