Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

First, it is important to remember that there were two elements to the agreement. One was a negotiated process which occurred around 2002-2003 and which involved a deal or a contract with legal obligations on both sides. As I understand it, the agreement in 2009 was a moral or voluntary agreement whereby the congregations agreed to provide further recompense. There is a difference between properties in respect of which a handshake occurred and an agreement was made and those in respect of which, essentially, the congregations can live up to the obligations they made or, in law, from which they could walk away. It is important that the time factor is taken into account in all of this. Certainly, the fact that an agreement made in 2009 to transfer properties and some of them are still not settled is a concern.

On the issue of value, and the point at which value is struck, my general understanding is that the value that is credited to the congregations is the value at the date of the agreement. Any movement in values of property, either up or down afterwards, is the State's risk in the exchange. It could be argued that properties valued in 2009 at, let us say, €100 million might now, in aggregate, current market terms, be valued at €150 million or €200 million. There may be those kinds of movements. In the context of our presentation of it, we have always treated it as the value on the date the agreement was made. Whether properties went up or down in value thereafter is a separate issue.