Brendan Walsh, Joe Durkan, Peter Neary and Sean Barrett speak to Vincent Browne about Ireland's economy and the prospects for economic growth.

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The Economic Crisis of the 1980s
Vincent Browne:    You all predicted economic or financial collapse 17 years ago. Did it happen?
Brendan Walsh:    No.
VB:    How did we avoid it?
BW:    By a change of policy and by getting policies right and restoring confidence in the economy.
VB:    But that didn't happen for several years; our discussion was in 1981, and arguably the turn-around didn't happen until 1987.
BW:    The seeds were sown earlier than 1987. By then the fiscal policy began to move back in the right direction ahead of the more dramatic changes which occurred.
Joe Durkan: After 1987 they didn't continue borrowing at the same level they were borrowing at before.