Mr. Jeremy Masding:

I do not think so, because I think we are all aligned in wanting to do that. As the Deputy rightly said - it is important to keep emphasising this - a bank can only change the price of its lending if it changes the price of its funding. The one has to come before the other.

We are committed to driving down all our input costs and then sharing the benefits with our customers. To be crude, the only time the Oireachtas might intervene is if the chief executives of the banks sat here and said they disagreed and would not do anything. We are committed to doing it.

I wish to comment on Deputy Donnelly's other point. We are not comparing like with like when we talk about the 2.5% standard variable rate in other countries versus 4.5%.standard variable rate in Ireland. In most countries I have worked in where I have led banks, arrangement fees are part of the cost of borrowing. While 2.5% might be the notional amount of the mortgage, certainly from my experience in most cases there is an arrangement fee as well. We need to be slightly careful that we are not comparing apples with pears. If Deputy Donnelly is asking me whether I am committed in principle to driving down the cost of inputs, I have to maintain a return for my shareholder and we in the bank are committed to sharing anything over and above that.