Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----just say, Chairman, I think the question was addressed to me as well. May I just say that I get the impression that the inquiry, as a result of hearing testimony to the fact that there were some big players in the financial sector advocating a guarantee and there were some senior officials considering the options and so on, I think it's important to say that the political system didn't know this at the time. You know, we didn't go to bed on the night of 28 September knowing that the world would have changed on 29 September. We didn't know. I mean, this information in terms of did bankers approach us, did developers approach us ... I mean ... this information was being kept under wraps prior to 28 September and after 28 September, the bankers felt they had got an insurance policy that insulated them. So ... and in terms of the question about making the connection between the property bubble and the risk to the financial system, I think the record of the House will show for that night that two Deputies, Deputy Michael Noonan and myself, raised the question of solvency. And as Deputy Burton has said, there was a great deal of caution around. Banks weren't named by name and all the rest. But we put in separate interventions, whether we were dealing purely with a liquidity crisis. Now, the Minister for Finance of the day, the late Brian Lenihan, did not answer. I wouldn't have expected him to answer. I don't think the Minister for Finance could stand up and say, "Yes, I'm afraid, Deputy, it's wider than liquidity. There is a solvency issue." I don't think the Minister for Finance could say that. But that's the first time and the record of the House will show it that question was raised.