Mr. Fintan Drury:

And Brian Cowen was pretty concerned that there would be any misunderstanding by anybody who would be approached and asked to be involved in such an exercise that he was in some way creating a kitchen cabinet. This was a ... this was a kind of one-off discussion to explore areas that outside people might be able to give him guidance on. And the reason the people who were at that event were chosen was because it was a combination of people I knew and people that ... who Brian knew. Brian had great belief in Alan Gray, as many people in politics and in the Civil Service do. So he wanted him there. I knew Alan, but not well. He wanted Gary McGann there because, as I refer to in my opening statement, he had a view that Gary was very smart, very committed to public service. He was a ... I think at the time, a former chairman, if not still chairman, of the Dublin Airport Authority, and had committed himself to a number of roles in public service, but he was also chief executive of one of Ireland's largest companies, which had a global reach and Seán FitzPatrick was my suggestion and the suggestion was made at a time when Seán FitzPatrick was deified. It's an exaggeration but his reputation was, both globally and in Ireland, extremely high and he was seen as somebody who was extremely bright, extremely talented, and would have, therefore, value to add. And it was done on that basis.