Mr. Dermot McCarthy:

I think that there was a concern about the need to ensure that the fiscal policy was appropriate, given the impact of the adoption of the euro, and that there should be, on a cyclically adjusted basis, a degree of headroom to provide for any reversal that might arise. The amount of that headroom as recommended in the June or July annual submissions by the Department of Finance was pretty modest and in most years was, in fact, achieved. So one would, perhaps, assess, in retrospect, that the degree of countervailing force, if you like, to be provided by fiscal policy wasn't sufficiently understood.