Mr. Brian Cowen:

Yes, well obviously ... obviously - not interrupting you - I mean, obviously, Senator, there was, on the macroeconomic side through the stability reports and others, and indeed their own assessments, they would have a view on that and there was a concern expressed. The problem is that the assessment of that risk was that it was less ... that it wasn't an issue that was going to materialise in the form in which it did. When you have ... and I'm trying to emphasise here that when you have an economy growing at the rate that the Irish economy was growing over the previous ten years, and when you have the level of investment opportunities that were being identified in the private sector and when you have an increasing trend of Irish banking ... which is not just about Irish banking, this is a trend that's going on in all banks, this originate and distribute model, where, you know, the mutual funds are as big as the banking system now and there is ... you know, you can get access to capital more easily in globalised markets than would have been the case ten, 15 or 20 years ago. But the point you make about lending growth, yes, it was unfortunate that there wasn't an intervention sooner on lending growth. I also make the point that, you know, reducing lending growth in terms of the capital formation of the Irish economy ... I mean there isn't as much indigenous wealth in this economy as there would be in the French economy or a German economy, so you have to get access to capital from the outside. Once you get a good return on that capital, you can repay your loans and progress with your business model, but it's ... I just ... to answer your question directly, I don't suggest that the Department of Finance should be agnostic about these issues, but, at the same time, they weren't in the business of interfering.