Mr. Patrick Long:

I thank the Deputy. As I stated earlier, "competition" is not about the number of participants. It is about having the right participants in the process and ensuring that they are highly motivated. Ultimately, the portfolio is only sold once and that to the highest bidder. I really do not think that it would have helped NAMA if we had received a lot of other bids well below the reserve price. That would have added nothing to the process. As the Deputy pointed out, the table in section 4.4.2 highlights clearly that the parties that were included in the process, that is, that were invited to participate in the process, accounted for the vast majority, almost the totality, of loan portfolio sales-----