Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Well, I think, you know, going right back to 2002, you know, we were very critical of the regulatory system that was being put in place, we did not think it was fit for purpose ... and that was, sadly, proven right over the subsequent years. So we were right to call at that time for a detailed review and when it came back through the subsequent years, when enforcement powers came back for consideration again we raised that issue that there hadn't been a proper stress testing of the model and I think that was proven to be a serious vulnerability. Obviously, when the guarantee ... you know that bank collapse started, as we've outlined ... the Taoiseach has outlined in detail why we supported the guarantee. You were at a point where, you know, you feared a run on the banks, you needed to protect depositors ... but we raised all of the right questions about whether, you know, was there an adequate buffer and could this impact. I think as soon as it became clear that this wasn't just a liquidity issue, it was a solvency issue, we strongly advocated that within each bank, there should be the separation out of a bad bank, which would have left the shareholders and the bondholders holding, if you like, the assets that were questionable and they would have to recover from those assets as best they could to recover the value of their shareholding and their bond holding. That was clearly the model we advocated - the separation of good from bad. That wasn't done, as you know, but that was the position we took and I think we were right in that. We took the view that, you know, Anglo ... there shouldn't be more recapitalisation of Anglo, that it was a bank that should be wound down in an orderly fashion at a time when we were being told that it should be kept open as a going concern. So, we did take different views on those. I think, by and large, at the time, based on the information we had available to us, those were sensible policy positions to take up. So, you know, I think we have a very credible record in relation to how we handled this crisis, but, clearly, no one has perfect foresight or perfect hindsight and, you know, it ... this was an appalling disaster that no one anticipated in its scale or impact on people but I think the policy position and the scrutiny that we applied was the right scrutiny and policy positions.