Mr. Dermot McCarthy:

I think they, but not just the ECB, had concerns that this programme should provide a clear basis for rectifying, once and for all, the Irish banking problem, both through the availability of capital and through the restructuring of the system itself. There was, obviously, concern in the Irish side, the Government side, that the cost of taking on capital commitments should be kept to the minimum, and that the degree of capitalisation should provide only enough, and not more than enough, to meet all the, if you like, prudential and objective requirements. Obviously, there was a concern that the degree of capitalisation shouldn't produce negative outcomes, such as, for example, the desire to have a rapid deleveraging of the assets of the Irish banking system, which could produce significant losses and further capital requirements. So, there was certainly tension in the process around that issue and the outcome, as you know, was a combination of a direct and immediate or almost immediate, draw-down and capitalisation. And a contingency provision which would be brought into play following the prudential capital assessment.