Professor Philip Lane:

Let me mention two points on that issue. I am sure in terms of those involved in the supervision of firms, that is a clear risk factor that is going to be looked at. Currently, at a European level, one of the big projects is called AnaCredit. Its aim is to build a very detailed sectoral data set of loans across Europe. This is led by the ECB - I believe they were at the European Parliament yesterday - as it is a big issue. That is not going to be available for a number of years. The principle there is that knowing more on a loan-by-loan basis about which sectors are concentrated, not just in Ireland - because there are correlations between Ireland and the property markets elsewhere - but across the European system, will help in the future. It will help debtors who are not in high-risk sectors to be differentiated from those in high-risk sectors. Both in terms of the bilateral relationship with banks, and also in the macro view, that is definitely a big priority area. Another application of this is in climate change. One can think about which types of firms are more or less exposed to weather risks and so on.