Professor Philip Lane:

In general, the ultimate nature of funding for any of these vehicles will involve some mix of equity and debt. There is a significant amount of equity in general in that area but, regardless of whether it is equity or debt, the question is one of who suffers in a downturn. Our attention is very much to ensure the local banks are appropriately provisioned and hold appropriate capital against commercial real estate here so that if there were a fall in prices, the Irish banking system, on which we all rely for daily business, would remain okay. It is to ensure that if some bunch of global investors loses money, we will be less concerned and a systematic risk will not be imposed here. For the Irish financial system, it is a net positive to have the entry of international finance providing extra funding here.