Mr. Brian Cowen:

Well, I'm just saying to Deputy O'Donnell, in case he's under any illusions that I don't have sympathy for people who have found themselves in difficulty, of course I do. And I am saying that the work we did when I was in government was always about promoting the public interest as we saw it, about being ambitious for this country and trying to build on the successes that have been built over many years and that the hard work of the Irish people is what's helping us back.

But I just want to make the point, Deputy, that, you know, if we all had time back now ... I'm not suggesting I'd had the same policy framework if I knew now ... if I knew then, what I know now. But no one knew then that we were going to have a financial crisis in 2008. And anyone who suggests that they did is being politically and intellectually dishonest. And every country in the developed world, to a varying degree, has had to deal with this basic problem.

Now it doesn't ... I don't ... I don't ... I'm not shifting the responsibility anywhere. I'm the guy that was there and I'm here to explain to people - because this is what they need to know - what was the contemporary thinking, why did you do what you were doing and on what basis were you doing it, what was the assessment of the risks that was there? People need to know that. And it's on the basis of that that you make your decisions. And you're not run by the Civil Service nor are they asking to run the country, you're ... they're there to advise, they're there to give the risk assessment and you're there to take that on board and take on board the fact that there are waiting lists outside hospitals and there's no child care provision in the country and that our intellectually disabled are not ... don't have a system that's in the 20th century, let alone the 21st. And you make a decision,"Are we going to wait?" I mean, in the good times, how long are these people supposed to wait? How long were we going to wait to give an old age pensioner a few extra bob? He might live with a bit more dignity. I remember people saying to me in an election campaign, "Thanks, Brian, we appreciate that bit of effort you're making on that front. When my grandchild comes here now, I can give her ... I can give him a fiver instead of wondering how many grates are in ... how many briquettes are in the grate." Those are policy decisions that we made and I stand over those decisions.