Mr. Ed Sibley:

The mortgage interest rates put on new loans are ticking down somewhat. However, there is still a sizeable difference between what is happening in new lending rates and the eurozone average for the reasons I have outlined. Some of the underlying issues are changing a little so the amount of capital that banks have to hold relative to loans is nudging down a little, and while it is relatively small at this stage, we expect that to continue to play out. One of the things we have been very focused on for a number of years is how the mortgage market functions in terms of contract clarity and disclosures, and whether people understand what they are getting into. I am thinking about some of the problems we have had in the market, including in respect of mortgage arrears and some of those issues related to switching and disclosure. What we can see is that there has been some improvement in how the market is functioning but they are still pretty significant issues. Overall, to come back to the Senator's first point, it is not inappropriate that mortgage rates in Ireland are higher than the eurozone average because of the underlying risk. There is also-----