Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Well, you see, the Commission wasn't the decision maker because, as you heard in evidence already today, these were issues ... there were intergovernmental issues. So the interest rate issue was an intergovernmental issue, because the creditors were the sovereigns of Europe. And it wasn't the Commission. Olli Rehn was in favour of reduced interest rates all the time, and he was the Commissioner. But that made no difference to me, because it was being opposed vigorously by certain finance Minister colleagues across the table, and it needed a decision. On the corporate tax, I understand that the first meeting the Taoiseach went to, that a lot of pressure was put on him by Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande on corporate tax rates, but he stood his ground and didn't agree. But I never heard there was a linkage to interest rate, because we wouldn't have ... I wouldn't have activated the interest rate campaign at that stage. I mean that must have been mid-March. You can check whenever the Council meeting was. It was at his first Council meeting.