Dr. Gabriel Fagan:

We do not know that but it is very important to realise that it is particularly in banking that there is the Single Supervisory Mechanism. There is essentially a more or less fully harmonised approach to banking supervision across Europe. Therefore, an individual competent authority in another country cannot offer a better regulatory deal than it will get in Ireland. It is very important to recognise that this is part of a Europe-wide framework. It is very strong in banking. There is a single institution. However, even for the other sectors of finance - say, for insurance, funds and so forth - there is a kind of common set of standards applied.

The Senator makes a very interesting point. There are other dimensions that countries can exploit. For example, some countries are talking about having lower tax rates for British bankers that come to their jurisdictions. That is not a supervisory matter; that is kind of a governmental matter. A range of other things are being done, for example, changing the language in which forms are written and so forth, which makes it more attractive to the UK. However, many of these are outside the realm of supervision and the supervisory authority. They constitute Government action. I do not think it is fair to say Ireland is not being promoted; it is being promoted by the IDA and other institutions.