Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

That is what the report says. The Deputies should read it.

The Labour Party revised its view in order to gain some respectability by stating it was only talking about subordinated debt, which it stated should not have been guaranteed on the basis that it constituted only 3% of the total volume. The view is that if one were not supposed to guarantee 3%, one should not have guaranteed 97%. We are told there would not have been an implosion; of course there would have been.

The second point the Labour Party makes - I am glad it is outlining this policy - pertains to temporary nationalisation, which would at the time have deprived Bank of Ireland from obtaining money on private markets, as it did subsequently. It would have had to have been paid for by the taxpayer.

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