Mr. Angel Mas:

I will respond to Deputy Barry's point on first-time buyers and the impact a cap would have and my colleagues can respond to some of the other points he raised. There will be a little fewer than 10,000 first-time buyer mortgages in Ireland this year, which will be high loan to value which is typical for first-time buyers. At the peak of the market there were more or less 37,000. If the normal level could be half the number at the peak, and I am speculating on this, let us say it would be 20,000 mortgages, that would mean that if it is 50% in terms of first-time buyers, it would be 40,000 total mortgages. If a cap of 15% is imposed, 14,000 families would be excluded from home ownership because they would not have the high loan to value mortgage they require. Even if applied to today's levels, that would mean that 6,000 of the mortgages that were originated this year would have been part of the quota and 4,000 would have been excluded and this is at a time when we have an all time low. Clearly, there is a need for a solution and we think mortgage insurance is a key part of that.