Mr. John Corrigan:

As the Chairman said, we had cash balances of €18.5 billion at the end of December 2013. In terms of time, that would have covered the State's requirements up until the first quarter of 2015, taking into account the need to fund the Exchequer on a day-to-day basis and the need to meet whatever bond redemptions fell due during that period.

In looking at the level of balances we should hold in the future, it is more appropriate to look at it in terms of time rather than an absolute monetary amount. What we would be looking to do, and the Minister for Finance has referred to this publicly, is to run down those cash balances such that they meet 12 months requirements.