Ms Francesca McDonagh:

I thank the Deputy for the question. Two and a half weeks ago I presented our strategy from now until 2021 to the market. Within that we were very specific about our ambition to support our customers - personal, corporate and small business customers - to be successful. A big part of doing that is by being the leading supporter of house building and home buying in Ireland. We see that as a need for both the customers and companies that we want to support. One of the issues that is facing many of our customers, and no doubt many of the Deputies constituents, is rising house prices. We see that as driven mainly by a mismatch between supply and demand. Ireland is growing in demographics and in GDP and average household sizes in Ireland are relatively large when compared to the European average because people want to move out and get their own home and renting or purchasing it can be prohibitively expensive. For us, the solution to that is to support companies to construct properties and homes that are appropriate for Irish home buyers or tenants. We see an opportunity to support that need.

Last year we provided 8,000 mortgages to customers wanting to buy a new home or move home. We provided corporate clients with support to build 3,000 homes in Ireland; I mentioned in my opening statement that we also supported 1,700 student beds, which is a challenge, and we are helping 160 construction sites to get built. There is still a gap. We expect that there would be around 40,000 residential units needed per annum to meet demand and last year I believe 15,000 were built. That is still driving an increase in property prices. For us, our role, as the largest lender in Ireland, is to support the companies to build the properties and for the people to move into them with mortgages that are attractive.