Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I wish to answer the question in the following way, if I may, because the suggestion was that there was €4 billion available to go into a bank which might have gone everywhere else. The suggestion was that we just decided to support a bank rather than supporting public services. The answer is that we have to support the financial system in this situation because the alternative of winding up the bank or allowing it to be wound up would expose the taxpayer to a far greater liability.

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