Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Carthy rightly said that the European and domestic regulators have said they have not instructed banks to sell portfolios and that this is not necessarily the preferred option. There is no preferred option; there is a range of options set out under the guidance. Is it the case that, in reality, the regulator - at European level, say - is putting pressure on the banks here to reduce their non-performing loans fairly quickly, suggesting that there are various ways in which they can do it. In effect, is the coded message that the portfolios should be sold on? The regulators will not say it outright but, in truth, is there not pressure to sell and adopt a big-bang approach?