Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

If I am given the opportunity to reply I am sure I can clarify the matter. The Secretary General set out in detail the role of the Department of Finance. The only issue that arises in addition to what has been said already is regarding the fact there was a Cabinet meeting on Sunday and which has been well reported. There was a Cabinet meeting relating to preparations for the supplementary budget we were bringing forward in early October 2008. That is what the meeting was about. At the end of the meeting, the Minister for Finance gave an update that there were still liquidity issues with regard to our banking system and that it needed to be monitored and that if the situation deteriorated further we would have to return to the issue. However, there was no detailed discussion about options or anything like that at this meeting; it was simply the Minister for Finance updating the Cabinet as to the state of the play. On Monday, the situation deteriorated further to the extent that when business closed there was a need for meetings which took place as have been outlined.

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