Mr. Brendan Whelan:

We have a task force in operation for the personal microcredit initiative, which involves the Department of Finance, the Department of Social Protection, the Central Bank, the representative bodies of the credit unions, the Citizens Information Board and us. It is a constructive body. Its job is to address the availability of credit in Ireland. We have built up a good working relationship with the Department of Finance, which has accountability in this area. We would be happy to work with our colleagues in the Department to tease that question out, not just what the ultimate rate would be but how the base rate, a multiple and so on would be constructed. We would be happy to work with John Palmer and his colleagues in the Department of Finance on that topic.