Mr. Brian McEnery:

This is important because what was said here on 29 September was that it was only in June, most recently, that there was ever a reference to 10% and that is not true. The Comptroller and Auditor General signed off on the financial statements which allude to "Loans and receivables are shown net of charges for impairment". That is true. "The fair value of loans and receivables has been estimated using the expected future cash flows in the portfolio". True, €1.679 billion. It is further stated:

Expected future cash flows for individually significant debtors were reviewed as part of the impairment cash flow assessment at the reporting date. Cash flows between 2014 and 2016 were discounted at a rate of 5.5% and cash flows between 2017 and 2020 were discounted at a higher rate of 10% due to greater uncertainty in predicting cash flows beyond 2016. This estimation is subject to judgement by management in relation to the discount rate used and the timing and amount of future cash flows.

In effect we said in the 2013 financial statements - and it could not be clearer, this is not last June - that we were using a range of discount factors to reflect the portfolio of assets we were looking at. We said some were being discounted at 5.5% because of their profile and some had a discount factor of 10%. That is the first reference to a 10% discount. When it is said that NAMA retrospectively came up with 10% to justify the number that is not true. It is here in the financial statements of 2013.