Professor Philip Lane:

There are two ways to view that, one of which is that we are growing. In 2016, we grew by approximately 5.5%, so numbers went from approximately 1,500 to 1,600. We are in the low 1,600s now. We have identified that if we were fully staffed and incorporated an expanded rate of activities, we would like to be at 1,800 by the end of the year. In terms of hiring net 200 in one year, the nature of the Central Bank, like any central bank or regulator anywhere, is that our employees are attractive to employers. We believe a particular feature of Brexit is that this will get worse because firms coming to Dublin will ask who they can hire and, naturally, they will be looking at our employees and employees of other banks here. That is an ongoing challenge. I could say to the Senator that if our pay levels were higher it would be easier but that is part of the wider context in terms of public sector pay. There are many factors to deciding what is appropriate on that.