Mr. Ed Sibley:

As I described earlier, having looked at the report and the response to it from Irish Rural Link, I can clearly see that there is an acknowledgement of the concentration in the market. There are some inhibitors to bank finance in Ireland and, typically, SMEs in Ireland use bank finance less than in other parts of the EU. The report identifies that setting up a public bank would require some degree of State finance. That is the conclusion of the report. It describes some business model challenges as well, on which I would not have a particularly strong view either way.

From a Central Bank perspective, there is a fundamental question there in terms of authorising a bank to both lend responsibly and also to fund itself responsibly. Banks need capital and without that capital being in place there is nothing for us to authorise. I have personally met Irish Rural Link a couple of times and we have met the Sparkasse representatives so we are certainly happy to accommodate, engage and discuss. We are going through much authorising activity at the moment so we are well versed in that but there are basic fundamentals involved in authorising a bank and unless those fundamentals are in place it is not possible for us to authorise one.