Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Okay, when NAMA acquired the loans it would have calculated an effective interest rate, EIR, for each loan. This would have varied, depending on the characteristics of the loans and how long NAMA was expecting to hold them. Effectively, for accounting purposes, one stays with the EIR when one is reporting. On average, for the Northern Ireland loans, the EIR at the end of 2013 would have been about 4.8% as opposed to the 5.5% that was used in the cashflow analysis. I can talk a little more about that if members wish but there is not that much difference between 4.8% and 5.5%. The higher the interest rate, the lower the net present value. That was actually why we queried it in the first place. We asked NAMA why it was using a higher discount rate, which has the effect of lowering the net present value but we accepted that it was reasonable on the basis of the paper that was presented to the board in June 2013.