Ms Barbara Nolan:

We have had a situation where the banks in the different member states have been stress tested and we now have a clear baseline or picture of what is going on across the Union. The European Central Bank can now use this baseline and start its work as a single supervisor. This is a supervisory mechanism. It is there as an added "protection" in terms of things going wrong in the future, but it is not there to replace what should be in place already. It is there to ensure the provisions actually happen. What I am saying may not be crystal clear, but that is the way I see the interaction between the super national and the national.

To return to the question raised by Deputy Crowe on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, there was a huge response to the TTIP consultation, with 150,000 replies.