Mr. Brian Cowen:

Yes, well, it is true to say - and the Honohan report refers to this - that there was a lot of forbearance, it seems, in terms of issues that were coming up were taking a long time to get resolved. It was almost, you know, as if there was a trail of correspondence without decisions being taken and people putting counter-views to the regulator's requirements and this sort of thing. I mean, I agree that there ... it seems to be the case, based on Mr. Honohan's work and his report, that ... I'm not saying forbearance, that's probably the wrong word, I'm saying there was a failure to bring issues to completion ... regulatory matters to completion, one way or the other, as to what was to be the outcome. And it was, sort of, trails of correspondence going on for months and, in some cases, more than months, which seems to me to be ... not to be the most efficient way to operate.