Professor Alan Ahearne:

I mean, I think as we went through the autumn and bond yields were rising and market access was becoming more and more difficult, then it was ... it was clear that this national recovery plan initially had been put forward as something to present to the markets to say "Look, you should lend to us because we have a plan here", but it was clear that if we were to enter a programme - and the probability that we would enter a programme was rising - that it could, therefore, serve as a blueprint. I mean, Brian Lenihan had said that he thought it would be ... the Irish public would find it difficult to accept the huge amount of budgetary adjustment that was still to come - and it was obvious that it was still to come - to correct the public finances if it appeared to be imposed from outside and, therefore, he thought it was important that if there were to be more adjustments - and there were going to be - that they would be seen to have been part of a plan made ... written in Dublin. So, that was a big part of the reason that there was a big push to get the national recovery plan done and, therefore ... before the troika plan was announced.