Mr. Liam McLoughlin:

As the Deputy knows there are a range of factors that make up the composition of the cost base to it. The costs are driven by three things. Those are the cost of funds to ourselves - the normal rate for that is 40 or 50 basis points - the cost of operations and the cost of capital. The costs of capital and credit have been increasing over the last number of years, not decreasing, whereas the cost of funds have been decreasing. Bank of Ireland has seen a reduction of about 25 basis points in costs of funds in recent years, and we have passed it on to our fixed rate pricing, which is the promotion of our new mortgage business in Ireland.