Mr. John Corrigan:

Well, Brendan McDonagh would have been the man who would have been the appropriate point of contact because as head of risk, among other things, he would have been responsible for setting the counterparty limits. So, to the extent that there was contact it probably would have been with Brendan. But just to, maybe if I could, just step back from it for a minute, I mean, the NTMA's role is ... in that space is to fund the Exchequer and to make sure that the Exchequer has sufficient cash to meet its day-to-day requirements.

We had a very conservative approach to risk. I don't think anybody would thank us if the money which had been garnered through borrowing or through tax receipts had been lost through some sort of placement with, with, dodgy counterparts. However, you know, the Minister who ultimately gave us a direction to place deposits with the, with the banks, he, again in my opinion, would have had a much wider public policy take on the issue and would have taken into account, presumably, considerations that were outside the narrow remit of the NTMA. But I mean the signal was very clear and, and left ... could not have left anybody in any doubt.