Mr. Ajai Chopra:

I have already said to this committee that, you know, in many respects the IMF did end up being a junior partner, not just in the financing - there was much more financing from European institutions. So, yes, the IMF was a junior partner.

And, you know, I also think there are governance issues for the IMF in the way the three parties operate. Normally, the central bank of a member country would not be on the side ... same side of the table as the IMF; it would be on the other side of the table, being the member country's central bank. So, you know, there were a number of unusual features. Also, the way this ... you know, decisions are taken by the Eurogroup before they are taken by the IMF board. There was ... again, nobody wants to, sort of, come out in public with disagreements and we avoided that, and by taking that approach that does limit what the IMF can do. But, you know, having said all of that, I do believe that on some aspects the IMF staff were influential in the design of the Irish programme. We may not have won every battle but we won some significant ones.