Mr. Oliver Gilvarry:

The framework for the EBA is covered by the EBA regulation agreed by the co-legislators, by the Council and Parliament, and states that the authority should be based in London. Any change to that would have to go through the co-legislators. With the UK leaving the European Union, the authority will have to move and this will be part of the negotiations. The Department and the Government have made a public declaration of interest to locate the EBA in Ireland. It has between 160 and 180 people and has approximately 45,000 sq. ft. in London.

We would need something equivalent. We have had discussions with them at official level and the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, met the EBA a number of weeks ago. As such, we are continuing to push for the relocation of the EBA to Ireland, but it will be a co-legislator decision and part of the Brexit negotiations. There are four or five other member states which have made public declarations of interest in the EBA, including Poland and Spain. It will be part of the negotiations.