Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

The State wanted to give the banks more for the assets, based on the concept that the €5.6 billion represented long-term economic value in that it would be recovered over time.

One could argue that that €5.6 billion has been recovered over time. We are saying that we have paid the €31.8 back and we will give an extra €3.5 billion on top of that. The long-term economic value of the state aid has been repaid. Remember, at the beginning we had to price everything by reference to 30 November 2009. Between 2009 and 2012, the first three years of NAMA, the market had dropped 30%. People were saying that NAMA should have changed the valuation date and should make a valuation as at 2011 when we would have paid less to the banks. The consequence of that would have been that the Government would have had to come in and put in more money to bail out the banks. It is a zero-sum game as far as the State is concerned. It is either putting in equity or it is paying more for the assets.