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mistakes were made
Brian Cowen made a rare public appearance, and was asked about the banking crash
Brian Cowen told reporters he was looking forward to his appearance at the Banking Inquiry.
Updated at 7pm
IN A RARE comment to the media last night, former taoiseach Brian Cowen said that his Fianna Fáíl-led government made the best decisions they could to stop the economy “imploding” during the banking crash.
Speaking to reporters on his way into a hotel in Killarney last evening, where he had been asked to launch a former TD’s book, Cowen also said he was looking forward to appearing before the banking inquiry.
He said that there was “hopefully a growing understanding of just how complex and difficult these situations were – and that there were no facile, simple answers and that discussions took place between us and we eventually emerged with what we thought was the right descisions to go ahead with the way we did. ”
Asked whether mistakes were made as the FF/Greens coalition responded to the collapse, he said: ”Of course, of course there were mistakes made”.
“You can only go on the basis of information that’s available to you at the time and of course, you know, with the benefit of hindsight all of us can look at the various other options that might have been available .
“You deal with the reality of the situation as it was, the analysis that was there at the time and what decisions had to be considered and taken in the interests of making sure that our economy didn’t implode as a result of a banking system itself imploding.”
The Banking Inquiry is expected to hear from Cowen and former finance minister Charlie McCreevy sometime in July. Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern is also expected to be asked to appear.
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