Mr. Conor O'Kelly:

Anything that can affect economic growth is a significant factor. We are asked questions about whether we are worried about Brexit, Grexit, Frexit and Trump and whether we have contingency plans, but we have none for any of it, the reason being that we are in the permanent contingency business. Ireland is a small country that depends on overseas investors to borrow a large amount of money. That makes us extremely vulnerable to potential external events, some of which we might be able to predict like Brexit or are already in the public domain. More than likely, something we have never even discussed will come around the corner and be a surprise. When a country has a small, open economy like Ireland, has a high level of debt and depends exclusively on international investors to lend the money to fund it, it is in the permanent contingency business, full stop. One can do a number of things to mitigate this such as ensuring one has cash and access to it in terms of short-term funding. Currently, there is €9 billion in cash on the books and additional access to very short-term cash. One can diversify the investor base by geography and investor type. One can diversify the product base by, for example, introducing index-linked, green bonds and other securities, as we will look to do in the future. One ensures the maturity profile is as smooth as possible and that one's debt is as long as possible. These are the only mitigants a small country like Ireland can put in place.

We spend most of our time assuming that something awful is going to happen and that is what we are paid to do. We are asked to ensure that we are protected and that we are able to access markets notwithstanding the conditions. I do not want trivialise Brexit, Grexit or anything else, but my experience would say that it is more likely to be something we have not thought of and that, therefore, we must have a permanent contingency plan in place that will allow us to withstand things we have not even envisaged as of yet.