Dr. Gabriel Fagan:

I apologise for the second point. There were a lot of questions and we could not necessarily address each question. I am not sure that the specific point raised by the Senator Mulherin is within our area of competence. That is more an EU legal issue. It could be said, however, that there is a lot of goodwill towards Ireland and there is recognition that there are problems, as highlighted by the Senator, specifically affecting Ireland. I believe there would be scope within the interaction with the EU to identify possible programmes that could alleviate those problems, but it is not really a matter for the Central Bank.

With regard to what we have done, it is important to recognise that we are now part of a broader EU framework. The regulation of banking supervision and the rules are all part of the single supervisory mechanism so we are not really in a position to change our rules. It is not like the old days when we were fully detached from the rest of Europe and we could make our own rules. Now we are part of a broader European framework so it is not possible to do that.

On the issue of promotion, there is very little scope for any supervisory authority anywhere in the EU to attract business by changing or by adopting a lax regulation. Regulation and supervision are now harmonised across the EU. There are other dimensions by which countries can compete such as in taxation or promotion. IDA Ireland is actively promoting Ireland as a location for financial services. It is not right to say that because the Central Bank is no longer in this business that Ireland is not being promoted and that other countries are doing the same. Countries cannot compete on the basis of supervision and regulation; we are now within a harmonised framework.