Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

We are not necessarily left holding the baby. These are commercial issues and, in many cases, the moral hazard must be considered in that context. The assumption that the State automatically comes in to cover everyone else's mistakes is not necessarily the case, although I take the point that the overall impact on market stability will always have to be considered depending on the scale and scope of what we are talking about. The other point is that the Governor of the Central Bank is one of the most grounded people I know. He is a very down-to-earth man.

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