Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The market perception changes from day to day. It is not the issue for us. The issue for us is the health and stability of our financial system, regardless of what the market says. Our job is to maintain the stability in the financial system, and that is our sole concern. I am not in the business of playing or working the markets. The markets will go up and down depending on how they see things from one day to the next, usually fed on rumour, perception and many other issues.

See this speech in context