Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The position is there was no knowledge available to the Government concerning the guarantee scheme we made. That was an important decision. These were banks of systemic importance. We were advised at official level that the scheme should be brought into play and that was done. It brought stability to the banking system and improved the situation considerably. In fact other Governments have followed on from that. In December, we brought forward a recapitalisation policy statement. Subsequently, as I made clear, in the due diligence that was conducted it became clear that it was in the interest of the country that the bank be nationalised.

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