Former Taoiseach Cowen admits mistakes over bank guarantee
Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen has accepted that mistakes were made in the handling of the controversial bank guarantee of 2008.
Earlier this week, Mr Cowen was summoned to give evidence at the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry.
He has denied that he overruled the then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan in relation to the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide in 2008.
During an event in Killarney last night, Mr Cowen told Radio Kerry that the government of the time acted to the best of their ability with the information available to them.
“Of course there was mistakes made, you can only go on the basis of information available to you at the time,” said Cowen.
“You deal with the reality of the situation as it was. The analysis of that was there at the time and what decisions had to be considered and taken, in the interest of making sure that our economy didn’t implode as a result of the banking system itself imploding.”
