Dr. Jim Stewart:

As in the previous financial crisis, most of the assets and liabilities are owned outside Ireland. The Deputy will remember all of those German banking firms and conduits that folded, creating major difficulties for the German banking sector but not necessarily for the Irish banking sector. It is more likely that the problems will cascade and emerge in other countries where borrowers and lenders live and reside. That does not absolve Ireland of having some role in regulating these companies and activities, but it will require inter-country collaboration. When one examines a company's structures, one will often find a connection between ownership of an Irish company and the Netherlands or Luxembourg. Sometimes, all three are involved. Increasingly, we are noticing that Malta is fitting into complex corporate structures. Cyprus is important where the regulation of Russian-owned firms is concerned because I suspect that much of the cash that goes into the Russian conduits comes from Cyprus, where many Russian assets are held in banks and so on. Cyprus has historically been important for Russian banking activities.