Mr. Gavin Kelly:

Obviously the construction industry is starting to reform and we have evidence of that from the 15,000 units built last year. We are supporting the building of 3,000 units and we are active on 160 sites across the country. That ranges from large corporate sites down to small infill builds where there are a couple of constructions going on. Typically we would look to fund about 60% of the transaction and I say typically, because each one is unique and we sit down with each customer and work through the cash flows for the site, the plans they have for building. We generally look to make sure that there is a reputable builder and we look to make sure that the relevant planning is in place and the site is what we call "shovel ready", which is making sure that it is ready for construction.

We would expect about 60% debt finance from the bank and the remainder coming from private equity. Each client is dealt with individually, each case is assessed individually against a number of different parameters but as Ms McDonagh said we have €1 billion available and we want to fund construction and housing. The challenge for the market as a whole is that construction must ramp up again. We need more builders, and the building firms need more employees. We will fund when the funding is required to start that construction but we have to be prudent and understand what happened in the past.