Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

You say you were not advocating a guarantee, but if you look at the paper of 25 September, under the heading, "A. Improved Liquidity in the Banking Sector", which was the burning issue of the time, you set out the options. One, the preference of an ECB intervention, which it became clear - if it hadn't been clear already - that that was not going to happen, and then under "Potential National Responses", there are five options. Four of them involve a guarantee, either a commitment to provide one or an actual guarantee. The only one not involving a guarantee is the banks setting up a liquidity war chest which, in your comment box, you say "probably not feasible this week".