Mr. Barry O'Leary:

-----and then the HFA started. However, the agency advanced mortgages. About one third of our book, as it stands, is in mortgages, whereby we lend to the local authority and it passes it on. We have the capacity even now to lend mortgages to local authorities which can lend the money on to people. We were discussing last week, with the heads of finance in local authorities, the attractiveness or otherwise of a 25-year fixed rate loan and what would be the position if local authorities being able to give out such a loan to creditworthy people within their areas. The local authorities' books are significantly in arrears, and one would like them to be conscious of the risk involved in such a proposal. However, the reality is that if one gives out a fixed rate loan at, say, 2% or 2.25% to the consumer, that provides a level of affordability which means that owning a house and paying a mortgage is possibly more affordable than renting-----