Mr. Marco Buti:

The IMF has its own way of setting rates and the rules related to their, say, their prerogatives, and we did not have that at the time. It was ... we were in unprecedented territory. I always, when I talk about management of the crisis not only on Ireland but all other countries, is that we were there in a wholly new situation. So we had ... there was an element here of learning by doing and setting the rules as we walked along. Now, at the time the idea was to try to mimic and get to something with a European ... at the European level, which was close to what the IMF had but we did not have the possibility. We don't have the capital that was, you know, that was ... that could be off-lent to the country. So, what we could do ... we did at the time - what we are still doing actually - is that we have to go and borrow on the market and lend back to back to the Government. Now then, on top of that, at the time it was decided that in order to get close to IMF rates, that a margin, which was about 290 basis points, would be .... should be charged.