Dr. Martin O'Brien:

I do not think much of the evidence from colleagues in the bank and from various surveys the Department of Finance would have done would point to a problem with credit supply. The point the Chairman raised about demand is certainly an issue and it is quite stark. It has been quite persistent for a number of years for various reasons. Certainly on the microside, if businesses have been operating for a long time, there is a memory of what happened previously that could also influence behaviour. There is the cash buffer Dr. Cassidy mentioned but there has also been, to a certain extent as we have seen particularly during the past two years, the success of the support schemes that have been put in place, which have basically masked some of the need potentially for accessing liquidity through other means but that will be an issue, as was alluded to earlier, when those support schemes come to be wound down. Hopefully, the broad thrust of economic growth will ensure firms will be taken on and they will not need the supports but they will still need, as some evidence from colleagues who have done research on this in this bank would show, liquidity support in some way, shape or form, whether it would be come through State backed schemes such as through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, other schemes or through the private market unaided. There is definitely a need for that.