Mr. Dermot McCarthy:

Well, on the expansion in credit, Chairman, clearly, it is a very dramatic increase, but the interpretation of that in terms of risk to financial stability was something which Government would have relied on a Finance assessment to ... to create and they, I suspect, in turn, were taking full account of the financial stability report from the Central Bank, and it ... I think it's a matter of fact from previous reports that the assessment, the tone, and the messaging didn't flag that this was something which threatened financial stability. It created vulnerabilities but not a pending crisis.

On the expenditure increases, they were very significant, but as a result, I suppose, of the strong output, in particular, from the construction sector, their funding was ... appeared to be accommodated in a way which was compatible with a strong fiscal outcome. In reality, the elements of a bubble were building up, but if you like, the distillation of that into a clear analysis and message wasn't received.