Mr. Ed Sibley:

Pre-crisis, much of the irresponsible lending that we have discussed was funded through secured and unsecured borrowings in the wholesale markets where there was ample and loose liquidity.

When that started drying up in 2007 and 2008, the banks simply could not fund the assets that were on their balance sheets. That is when we got into a sharp liquidity squeeze. They had to borrow from the eurosystem. When its criteria for lending money were considerably expanded, that gave banks, and Irish banks in particular, time to put themselves on a more sustainable, secure and resilient footing. Much of that work has been done, but there is still a little left to do.