Willie McAteer, former executive director of Anglo Irish Bank

Oireachtas Finance Committee, 2 Jul 2008:

"We are often wrong but we have a strong belief that we have significant and sufficient capital to meet even worse scenarios than we envisage. If bad debts and the economy get worse, we believe we are sufficiently capitalised."

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Clearly, the whole perception of Ireland and the negative sentiment towards it are obviously of concern to us. However, this sentiment is not borne out by fundamentals. We are travelling, as are many of the people here, to try to make sure that the perception of Ireland internationally is true and not a false, sentiment driven one.

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We have the best interest of the country at heart and are calling it as we see it.

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I reject the suggestion that banks have been foolhardy in recklessly lending and driving up values. We are in competition right across the board and I cannot think of a bank that has been reckless.

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Every loan goes through a central credit committee and is properly underwritten. "