Mr. Martin Ryan:

The next area that Deputy Barry asked about was our strength. He asked about where we see things in a year's time. Trends are trends, and the trajectory of the past couple of years has shown a net loss of around 500 per year. That is the worrying trend we are looking at.

We have already commented on how the language of stabilisation is used in expressing the current goal. It is not exactly inspiring, let us be honest, but it is a reality. We are talking about the lack of optimism here today, but the appraisal and views are honest-----