Mr. Jeremy Masding:

In regard to the shareholding of the organisation, I remind the Senator that we were tasked with reducing the State's shareholding from 100% to 75% and we did that. As such, we have a 25% private shareholder base. In regard to the 75%, what happens in that regard is a matter for the relevant Minister. The Minister is on record that over time he wishes to reduce the stakes of the Government in the banks and that is something which I would welcome. At the end of the day, that is a matter for decision by the Minister.

In regard to Brexit, in a short-term perspective Brexit somewhat bizarrely helped Permanent TSB in that it increased the probability of deleveraging the CHL business. A very short-term upside for us of Brexit was that it accelerated the full deleveraging of our non-core portfolio. For us, there was a short-term tick in the box from Brexit. In the longer term we are the only Irish bank that does not have a mainland British operating business and, therefore, we are less exposed than others. Like everybody in this room, we remain cautious of the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland.