Professor Patrick Honohan:

The Deputy will recall that four years ago, I produced a report for the then Minister for Finance containing an assessment of the regulatory and supervisory system in Ireland over the previous years up to the bank guarantee. I documented and identified a number of very serious deficiencies. Although the specific aspects that were discussed in this case were excluded from the scope of that review, what was revealed in this court case does not, in general, come as a surprise to me. The consequences of such deficiencies have already been acted upon in terms of greatly expanded and refocused supervisory staff and new approaches and behaviours; so much has changed. This particular episode certainly could not happen again. Nothing like this could happen again. I cannot conceive of it happening in the newly restructured regulatory arrangements we now have because of the action taken over those years. I do not look at this and conclude that such and such must be done. My interpretation is that we have already done it.

The Deputy speaks about individuals but I do not want to talk about individuals.