Mr. Donal McNally:

-----the threshold, you paid the whole lot. You paid 2% on €101,000 as opposed to 1% on €90,000. So, that meant, when prices rose, there was ... there was significant elasticity and that was one of the reasons why the yield went up so much. We did think was there a better way of restructuring the stamp duty because, you know, 9% was quite a high rate and we didn't go to the Minister on this because this was just talking amongst ourselves in the tax division. But the problem was that any attempt to ... to restructure the stamp duty rates would probably have meant a lowering of the rates ... just the way the process works. And lowering the stamp duty rates could have added fuel to the fire of the house prices, so, you know, we were ... we had a system that brought in a lot of money. It probably wasn't the most judicious system but making changes in it could have raised other problems.