Cowen denies his government were "on autopilot" during crisis
Brian Cowen has denied that the government were "on autopilot" in the midst of the financial crisis.
The former Taoiseach said Ireland hit trouble because of the size of the financial crisis, not because of government inaction.
Giving evidence at the Banking Inquiry, he admitted Ireland had become over-reliant on the construction sector, but denied that his policies had fuelled the bubble.
Asked by Fianna Fáil's Marc MacSharry if his 16 years as a minister had been "too long" and he had begun to run "on autopilot", Mr Cowen defended his record.
"I don't accept that - I honestly don't," he said. "The size of the problems we ultimately had to deal with were huge," he said.
In an apparent reference to the Greek crisis, he added: "there are some states who are trying to deal with them now and are not as advanced in their resolution [of the problem] as we are."
Earlier, Cowen denied having an overly close relationship with the construction industry, during questions on the property bubble.
In his opening statement, he defended the bank guarantee, saying the alternative was to set the country back 25 years.
However, he admitted – with the benefit of hindsight now – some things should have been done differently.
He also denied any deals were done in the infamous "Galway Tent", and pointed out journalists and media representatives were always present at the annual fundraising event.
