Mr. Conor O'Kelly:

I have been in the bond markets for 30 years and, even for professionals, it is hard to get one's head around negative interest rates. If we had the money in cash and deposited it with the Central Bank rather than managing it, as the Central Bank interest rate is -0.5%, we would be losing €70 million a year rather than €36 million. The fact of the matter is that central banks around the world are operating in a negative interest rate environment in order to stimulate the economy. We have seen that Ireland, as a highly indebted country, is a massive beneficiary of negative interest rates and the low interest rate environment but the other side of the same coin is that savers and investors have to pay the price.