Mr. Brian McEnery:

I will answer the Deputy's question about why we did not look at separating the assets outside Northern Ireland. We actually did look at it. We discussed it. I will explain why we did not do so. Let us take the example of a debtor who has some borrowings and some assets in Northern Ireland and some in the United Kingdom. If we decided to separate out the Northern Ireland ones in such a case, we would have to remit recourse in respect of the assets we would be trying to sell in the United Kingdom. We were trying to ensure we did not separate the portfolio in cases where there was a personal guarantee, for example, because we believed such a move would have damaged the value of part of the borrowing covered by the borrower's personal guarantee. We believed that if we did separate them out, we could impair the value of the overall portfolio. That is the reason we did not separate them. What was common about this was that the borrowers were out of the Northern Ireland jurisdiction. Not all of their borrowings were in the Northern Ireland jurisdiction. We felt it was important for us not to give the rights associated with the personal guarantees covering their borrowings by separating out parts of their portfolios.