Mr. Frank Daly:

I agree with the Deputy. Some of this is extraordinary. From our point of view, the most important aspect is the action that we took as a consequence of those events. As to the Deputy's question on why we did not call off the sale, it is not that we did not discuss doing so. A number of factors were in place. Lazard was advising us on the sale process. Once PIMCO was out, that removed from the process the taint of the possibility of something being wrong - I must be careful - in respect of a former member of the Northern Ireland advisory committee, NIAC. That was our great concern.

Bidders were still in the process at that stage.