Mr. Willie Soffe:

I recall early on in the first few years, when we had a target of €7.5 billion to pay back, that it was touch and go as to whether we would reach it by the end of 2013. The chief executive officer of the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, who was on the board of NAMA, was saying at the time that if we did not reach that target it would be damaging to the sovereign. He was trying to borrow to fund expenditure in the country. If one looks back, part of the cost of services in the last ten budgets has been met by borrowing. It was important that the State be able to borrow at the lowest rate possible.