Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

I have a personal view on commercial property in Dublin. At grade A office space level rents have gone from a high of €55 per sq. ft. at the peak in 2007 down to €27 per sq. ft. and now they are up towards €45 per sq. ft. That is because there is such a short shortage of grade A office space available. Rents are probably heading higher towards €50 per sq. ft. That is why we are getting in there. We are involved in four planning applications in respect of 1.5 million sq. ft. of office space in Dublin to try to stop rents getting out of control altogether. We want to ensure offices are available at reasonable prices.

The retail sector has made a remarkable recovery. It is a function of the improving economy. We have several portfolios on the market at present. There are bids on them which are encouraging not only in Dublin but in other parts of Ireland as well.

In terms of the residential sector, it went down about 55% in general. It is now down to about 38% from its peak. The residential sector in Dublin is probably under pressure because there is not enough of a supply. We are trying to address the supply issue. Supply is a key element to unlocking the rise in prices. In terms of the sector outside of Dublin, we have seen price improvements in Cork, Limerick, Galway and the rest of Ireland where NAMA in terms of its portfolio has a limited exposure. There is a graph in the briefing pack we sent to committee yesterday which shows where our portfolio is. We would not see there being a huge recovery in that market to date. We have limited exposure, I admit, but with what we see it is still quite difficult.