Ms Geraldine Larkin:

We will be progressing all our negotiations with the bank in the strongest possible terms. We realise that any money we spend is money that will not be available to spend within the industry, so I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy in that respect.

The Deputy also raised the issue of additional funding and whether that additional funding might be used to offset debt instead of selling the stadium at Harold's Cross. While the additional funding is very welcome and will make a significant difference to the IGB, the targets we have set ourselves within our response to Indecon rely on our disposing of the asset, because we very much want to bring our debt liabilities down far more significantly than we could if we were just to allocate all the increase in money towards that.

In addition, this would mean we would not be able to utilise that money in other ways for the benefit of the industry going forward.