Mr. Conor O'Kelly:

I will try to recall the Deputy's questions in the order they were put. The Chairman has clarified the point about the HFA. We do not have a remit in terms of how it lends that on and the margins it charges. The HFA is under the aegis of the Department of housing. We are keen and we have tried, as much as possible, where the State is borrowing through any of its agencies, to centralise all of that in the NTMA. We have been working with the Department of Finance to do that body of work. That makes sense for everybody borrowing centrally because that is where we can achieve the lowest rates. How that money is used out through the system is a matter for each separate Department.

The Deputy asked me about the universities. I am sure Maynooth University is part of that. The availability of institutional finance now for student accommodation is widespread, and the Deputy might ask them to contact me and see the strategic investment fund if he thought that was appropriate.

In terms of the debt reducing over time and economic growth remaining, we will return to some sort of long-term potential growth rate. The Department representatives will have a view on that and I might pass that question to them. Ultimately, the discussion with Europe tends to be about our interpretation of the long-term potential growth rate for Ireland versus that in Europe, and the debate is somewhere between 2% and 4%. That has a big impact in terms of the forecast. I would point out that the absolute level of debt will only go down if we repay it. It only goes down as a percentage of our GDP.