Professor Philip Lane:

Back in 2013 when this was set up, there was minimum schedule. It is very important that the minimum schedule was very minimum. It was small numbers, far less than what we are actually doing. The way to think about this is that if what happened in the world had turned out worse than was experienced, if the recovery here had been weaker and if the interest rate environment in Europe was higher, the scale of the disposals could have been done at a super slow pace, which is the minimum schedule. The fact that what happened in the world has not turned out like that, that the interest rate environment in Europe is quite low, that the Irish economy is growing quickly and that the fiscal position of Ireland has improved means that, in line with the second part of that agreement, we would sell as soon as possible, subject to financial stability considerations. That was the minimum schedule and the expectation is that we would sell more quickly, which is something that was always agreed to, subject to maintaining the financial stability. That is why we are selling at the pace we are selling but that minimum remains. If there were a severe change in circumstances, the minimum would become more relevant, but under current conditions the NTMA can borrow quite cheaply, and this is why we are selling at a pace.