Mr. Michael Lauhoff:

To answer Deputy Collins's question, we have not sold any loans, full stop, whether SME or consumer, in Bank of Ireland. It is not something we have used as a method for reducing non-performing exposures, so the answer is "none". We have worked extensively with businesses that have had their debts sold by other institutions to try to help refinance them into more sustainable debt positions and to fund those businesses into the future. However, we have not sold any loans to any other providers.

Regarding businesses with legacy debt, our primary focus with any business is on trying to bring that debt back down to a sustainable position. This means working with customers to understand assets that may not be core to the business and agreeing milestones with them for the disposal of some of those assets, lengthening the terms on facilities but working with them on a case-by-case basis to understand what is that sustainable level of debt that the business can carry into the future and putting a structure in place that they can deliver on to get there.