Mr. Brian Cowen:

No, there were no private discussions first of all; I never engaged in private discussions on this issue. I listened to some of the evidence given by the primary actors in this area in terms of the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank Governor and other staff about this. It is true that that is part of the statutory mandate that they have but I don't think, in any way, it can be argued that that enables, or that it should in any way suggest, that the primary function of a regulator is compromised. The job of the regulator was to regulate. There was also this issue about ... we had built up, as you know, over the previous 20 years, a competence and a presence in the financial services industry, which has brought a lot of, thankfully, jobs and revenues to the State as well as a big presence in various parts where we are world leaders in certain markets of reinsurance and aviation finance and all that sort of thing. But to answer your question, and I'm only speculating on this, I'm only observing, because the people who can answer this best are the people that you've asked this question of already-----