Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

Effectively, there is a lag effect in terms of looking at the portfolio. We go through a detailed exercise on 31 December each year. That is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. We carry out a detailed assessment - as does the Comptroller and Auditor General - of what the impairment figure should be, taking account of all the circumstances and given the size of our portfolio. We started off with 60,000 individual property units. We produce a representative sample of the valuations and that is why the exercise throws out a particular figure. At the end of the day, the board must accept that figure. Furthermore, to get our accounts signed off by the Comptroller and Auditor General, he must be satisfied that it is a reasonable figure.