Mr. Michael Walsh:

Well, I think first of all, you know, with the benefit of hindsight, nobody really understood the dangers of the actual kind of degree of growth in terms of the aggregation. But, I think, to put things in perspective the society, you know, in the period say ... well, let's take the five years, the end of '03 to the end of '08, the society lent, in terms of the Irish property market on the commercial side, roughly speaking, €2.5 billion. In the same period, AIB would have lent €30 billion into the same sector and, indeed, Anglo would have lent €30 billion into the same sector. So, you know, the practical reality is the society was growing at a lower rate in terms of these sectors than all of its competitors. It was growing at a lower rate because, you know, it actually was trying to maintain appropriate standards in terms of what it should actually do.

You'll notice if you look at that - and I accept the asset growth is high - but you will notice the level of reserves, which is the accumulated funding. And, you know, that went up by a substantial multiple as well. All of those funds are available to actually meet the situation in relation to any downturn.