Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The final area I wish to address is the future of the bank in the Republic of Ireland. It is extremely important that the bank is committed to continuing in business in this country to provide essential competition in the SME sector, in particular, but also for personal customers. In that regard, Mr. Brown said in his opening statement that the bank was committed to a future in this country. I welcome this.

Consultants have been appointed to look at the possible split into a good bank and a bad bank. Would Mr. Brown like to comment on this? Has there been any fallout from the IT systems failure in the summer of last year, which I accept originated at RBS? Will he also elaborate on that general topic, the future regulation of the bank and the speculation that the regulatory centre may be moved from the Irish system to that of the United Kingdom and the implications, if any, for such a move?