Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Walsh, on page 2 of your statement, you say the unique combination of the freeze in liquidity and interbank lending, coupled with the huge deposit withdrawals, was not anticipated; its scale and reach impacted globally across the wide range of industry and commerce and not just banking. Now, one could argue that this is one view of the international context. Evidence presented to this committee shows that from late 2007, Irish banks were seen as overexposed to the credit crunch, and from early 2008, Anglo Irish Bank was being cited as increasingly risky investment above others. The reasons given by the rating agencies at the time were its commercial property lending portfolio and its reliance on wholesale funding. So, can you inform the committee as to whether the downgrades from rating agencies were discussed at meetings that you attended at board?