Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

They agreed the condition and signed up for it. It was in the capitalisation agreement and, therefore, it was put into the public domain before any rating agency saw it.

The reality of it is that given the range of default in the United Kingdom and the United States where many of these rating agencies originate, and given that the traditional borrower in these countries has been far less reliable than the Irish borrower, there is a cultural read-through being made by the rating agencies on this issue which is unjustified. That is my personal assessment of the position.

The power of the rating agencies is another issue. It is not for today's debate.

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