Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If she were to quantify the total number of the commercial and residential real estate under the control of investment funds in Ireland, be it where they have bought directly or loan portfolios, what percentage of that do they control? Mr. Sibley made reference to it in terms of the Central Bank having issues with the banks and that they could deal with the loans in different ways from selling them on. There has been a significant sale of loans. An issue is manifesting itself whereby funds are coming in and buying large swathes of property. I want to get a holistic view. Has the Central Bank quantified the position in that regard? That is where I see the main exposure. They are coming in from abroad and buying commercial and residential real estate. I see significant exposure in the level of loans. Has the Central Bank looked at the type of investment vehicles that are purchasing these loans? There is anecdotal evidence to the effect that many of them are 100% geared for that. They are vehicles that purchased loans with borrowed moneys. Has the Central Bank looked under the floorboards, so to speak, at that level? If it is looking at the entire area, I would like it to expand that and examine the purchase of loans from the mainstream banks and the level of overall property, be it outright purchase or purchase of loans, the investment funds now control in Ireland.