Dr. Jim Stewart:

I am not sure whether the Central Bank collates data on funds raised by these firms and on the assets. It would be easy to do given the prospectus is published. It can be downloaded and is fairly readily available. It would be possible to collect the data but I do not know whether the Central Bank collates them. Certainly, the information is in the public domain. Thousands of companies raise debt on the Irish stock exchange every year and anybody can check whether a named company has raised funds.

One aspect that is excluded from these data relates to Russian firms based outside Ireland that have raised funds on the Irish Stock Exchange. One firm, Vimpelneft, has raised €3 billion or thereabouts on the Irish Stock Exchange but is located in the Netherlands. Similarly, a Russian firm based in the UK, Evraz, has raised funds on the Irish Stock Exchange but is based in the UK.