Mr. Paul Gallagher:

Governor Hurley very clearly set that out and, of course, as I mentioned in my opening statement, that was the legal position. Under the treaties, the member states had the sole responsibility to protect their banks. The ECB had no function and couldn't legally step in to protect the banks, but I think the significance of what President Trichet was saying was it was unambiguous - "You are on your own; you must save your banks", and that is the position. I also make clear in my statement that the Taoiseach and, I believe, also Minister Lenihan questioned that and interrogated that and asked: "Is there any prospect of a European solution, a European measure?" And they were explicitly told that while ECOFIN was meeting, I think, two days later, that there were no proposals before ECOFIN to address it. Governor Hurley was also meeting with the governing body of the ECB in a few days and there were no proposals.

So one thing was clear: the ECB and Europe were not going to do anything to resolve the issues that faced the Government that night and the responsibility was solely on the Government to make the decision that it thought appropriate to address the crisis.