Mr. Bertie Ahern:

I accept it now in hindsight because we would have built up bigger balances. But can I say at the time, Deputy, we still had over 10% unemployment. We still had an inability to give jobs to the young people in this country. And it seemed to me ... and today if it weren't have been for what happened ... to be writing down debt, which we were, substantially, saving interest payments, growing the economy, creating jobs, bringing in foreign investment, spending on infrastructure, having a balanced budget and creating surpluses, you know, if that wasn't complying with what he wanted us to do, I don't know what was.