Mr. Michael Moriarty:

I might supplement that and revert to Deputy Burke's question. When IBRC's special liquidators were appointed, NAMA was directed by the Minister to take over the IBRC's debt to the Central Bank. We issued almost €13 billion in Government-guaranteed loan notes. We were there as the reserve buyer. We spent most of 2013 - when all of this was happening - making preparations to take on that residual IBRC loan book. The conventional wisdom at the time was that, even though the special liquidators were going to sell the loans, they would probably find it difficult. That was part of the evolving market that we mentioned. It was also another context, in that we were keen to progress. We were facing the prospect of - and spending a lot of money preparing to do so - taking on another large amount of loans if the liquidators did not sell them. It was only in April 2014 that the Minister was able to tell us that we did not need to take on the loans because the liquidators had successfully sold them and repaid NAMA's debt. It was a major transaction, as reflected in the board's minutes.