Mr. Brian Hayes:

Yes, exactly. The question for the Central Bank of Ireland is why has that happened. That is the question that should be posed to it. I mentioned the frustration of MEPs, but it is too easy to fire shots at the ECB. I know that this is not popular to say, but it sees its mandate in the treaties and as independent. It ultimately see its mandate in monetary policy and getting the rate of inflation to 2%, which would solve a lot of the debt problems we face. The view of the independence of central banks is different in other parts of the European Union. Some have a more political view, while others have an entirely independent view of what the functions of central banks are, that they cannot be contaminated by politics and must have a singular view of monetary policy. I make that remark to explain some of the frustration felt by MEPs in trying to get concrete information from them. They will tell us what they can, but they are very guarded about what their mandate is. That is something we need to understand.