Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Well, in the earlier period of Northern Rock and in the period around the bank guarantee, I advocated, and it's on the public record, that there would be very significant deposits, there would be very significant guarantees for depositors in the banks because my view was that ordinary depositors in the banks needed a high level of guarantee - not just to protect them but also to prevent a run on the banks which, as the events of the guarantee unfolded ... and, by the way, it was presented by your Government at the time as being a cost-free exercise. I think we're all wiser now that we know that when banks fail, the cost is very significant. However, if the crisis which was evolving in relation to the two institutions that I was concerned about ... and, by the way, I was a member then of the finance committee and we had the various banking companies' representatives in on several occasions and the ... in the course of questioning, it was always to probe how they were actually dealing with, in effect, the bubble. So if the actions had been taken ... my greatest regret about Brian Cowen, who is, you know, is somebody-----