Mr. Padraic Kissane:

There are simple solutions to everything. There is the KISS formula: keep it simple stupid. First, if legislation is introduced, all it will do is affect the price the vulture fund pays for the loan and nothing else. The problem we have is that these loans have been sold so retrospectively applying any legislation is going to be difficult because the basis under which the purchase was made would then become a matter of legal concern.

On the broader question of competition, something that still amazes me is that even though Ireland is a member of the EU, I cannot borrow in Paris, Belgium or Rome, which I can do if I am purchasing in France. Nobody has explained to me why that is so. There are banks that would lend into Ireland for the appropriate qualifications and the appropriate customers. We are meant to be one market when it comes to the European Central Bank but we are not one market because we cannot partake in the interest rates in the European Union. That is something that should be looked at in more detail at a more advanced level but I do not want to move way from the main purpose of today's meeting.