Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have only one question. I apologise that I was late; I was attending another committee meeting. I understand the Chair will want to ask questions as well, so I will stick to asking one question.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, has rules with regard to mergers, the level of concentration they cause and how they affect competition. This measure of market concentration is called the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, HHI. According to this index, in a highly concentrated market, a post-merger increase of less than 150 is unlikely to cause concern. Obviously, therefore, a figure of over 150 would cause concern. By their own measure, if there were to be a merger of Bank of Ireland and KBC, it would increase this index by 600, or four times the passable threshold. What are the Minister’s views on whether that would be compliant with the CCPC's own rules? Would it be an issue of concern?