Ms Ann Nolan:

It was very important for legal reasons that the sales process was independent and that the other creditors of IBRC would not have recourse to the State. We did not do anything that would impinge on the value of the assets as they were being sold as the taxpayer would otherwise be left liable for quite a considerable sum of money. The question of public policy on the protection of mortgage holders is a separate one in respect of which we are looking at legislation. It is not as part of the sales process of IBRC loans. Any legislation we bring forward is likely to apply to any sales process of any loans and unlikely to apply exclusively to the IBRC loans.