Mr. Vasileios Madouros:

Yes, I am happy to do so. One of the points the Senator made, which is really important, is that, in the context of the crypto discussion, there is of course the risk to consumers the Governor mentioned and the potential links to the broader financial system. That is a key point that was made. As the Governor said, part of the reason why this is not as material from an overall financial stability perspective but could be is that some of these links to the broader financial system - certainly, the core of the financial system, which is the global banking system - are still very small. The Basel committee did some work to assess this at a global level and the exposures were very small. Also, some of the rules that are coming in are intended to ensure that, for example, banks have a lot of capital if they are exposed to some of this unbacked crypto in particular, so the regulation is coming in ahead of that to prevent some of the risks we saw before. However, the Senator's broader point about continuously understanding the potential links to the broader financial system is really important. Even if at the moment the risks to financial stability are not as material, if this continues growing and some of these linkages continue growing, it could become an issue, so we need to get ahead of it.

Briefly, on the issue of government borrowing, yes, in that sense, at global level, as central banks have increased interest rates there has been an increase in government bond yields across the world as it has become more expensive for governments to borrow relative to what would have been the case previously. The position here at this stage is relatively different from those of some other countries, as the Senator will know. Because of the very strong fiscal position of the Government and because corporation tax receipts are very strong, the borrowing needs are smaller in terms of maturities. I think they are relatively small this year, so Ireland's position is slightly different from those of some other European countries in terms of the need for issuance.