Mr. Myles O'Grady:

I am very happy to answer those questions. If I could, as a follow-on to the previous question, in regard to the first home scheme, which is proving to be a success, Bank of Ireland has approved just under 2,000 first home scheme mortgages this year. That shows it is working and is attractive to customers.

In response to Senator Byrne's question on climate change, earlier this year we set out our strategy for the next three years at Bank of Ireland. It is very important to us that we demonstrate we have what I would describe as practical and meaningful interventions that make a difference. We are willing to be judged on that as well. For example, at the end of last year our sustainability finance was at €8.2 billion. It had grown to €9.7 billion by June of this year. We have committed ourselves to grow that to €15 billion by 2025 and to €30 billion by 2030. We are happy to be judged on that. At this point, it is made up of about two thirds of green mortgages. That is essentially where we offer a discount rate if the energy rating is sufficiently high. The majority of our mortgage lending this year has been on green mortgages, so again, that is proving to be successful.

We are also working with businesses on decarbonising. In particular we have partnerships with Kerry Group and with Musgrave. We work with those businesses to offer lending facilities that reduce their carbon footprint. We take our commitment very seriously. We have also signed up for science-based targets, so we know many commentators around the world will be watching what we do as well and will be tracking our progress.

In regard to the very serious issues earlier this year with Credit Suisse and others, the good news is Irish banks, the banking sector and the eurozone generally are far more resilient and stronger than when we think back to the previous financial crisis. As an example, banks in Ireland are typically holding about three times more capital now than they did, let us say, 15 years ago. There is also a very strong funding profile. For example, for Bank of Ireland, for every €1 of loans we have out there, we have €1.25 in deposits, which means our funding base is very stable.

In response to the question about builders who want to develop, I have had a number of builders come to me over the past ten months with a similar story. My message is that we are committed to supporting home building in Ireland. I referenced earlier that we are supporting the development of 18,000 units across 200 sites. We have increased our committed funding from €1 billion to €1.75 billion, so we are very much focused on it. In some ways, if we want to grow the mortgage market, which we do, we have to also support builders who are building homes. That is a commitment. Each loan has to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but there is a strong desire for us to grow that part of our balance sheet as well.