Mr. Oliver Gilvarry:

The next stage involves us engaging with Commission officials and the EBA. One of the important things on which we have focused has been the fact that the EBA is not just the authority and its building. There are 160 staff members for whom it will mean significant disruption. We have been engaging with the EBA to get a sense of its requirements which include schooling and transport links with other European capitals. For the authority, it is very important to have good transport links with Brussels and Frankfurt. It is about identifying these issues and highlighting to others in Europe that Ireland has strong transport links and that the education system, from primary to third level, is very good here. It is these soft issues that we are putting forward to say Dublin would be the least disruptive location for people to move to from London and where the EBA would have a greater chance of retaining key staff. The staff are very specialised and the more disruptive the move, the more likely it is the EBA will lose key staff. Ignoring the fact that we want to have the authority located in Ireland, the EBA has a very important role to play, especially in relation to these proposals. It has to develop the level 2 measures to put flesh on the bones of the directive and regulation for the CRR, the CRD and, to a degree, the BRRD. It is important for Europe as a whole that it have the least disruptive move.