Ms Marie Hunt:

As I said, from recollection, at that time in Europe about 30% in any of the European markets would have been international and we stood out because we were different in that respect. We were spending a huge amount of money in other jurisdictions but there was nobody investing here.

That is not to say we did not have firms looking at Ireland from time to time if a particularly attractive asset became available for sale but they were usually out-bid by the local buyer, who was invariably bank-funded or debt-funded. The pricing looked expensive relative to other cities. The stamp duty was more than twice what it was in the UK, for example. Invariably, they ruled it out and they went to other jurisdictions instead.