The Central Bank has informed me that one of their functions, similar to other central banks, is to grant Exceptional Liquidity Assistance to a credit institution when this is deemed necessary for financial stability purposes. These amounts are published monthly. My Department, in addition, continues to monitor details of historical levels and trends in respect of the use of Central Bank funding across the system. The Central Bank cannot disclose the financial institutions that avail of such support although it is open to all eligible counterparties to apply for such funding. ELA is one of the ways that the Central Bank has responded to the financial crisis. This is distinct and separate from regular funding operations carried out for monetary policy implementation purposes through the ECB. A loan provided to a credit institution under Exceptional Liquidity Assistance is granted against suitable collateral, where suitability is in line with unpublished criteria defined by the Central Bank. As with procedures for ECB eligible collateral, appropriate haircuts/discounts are applied with a view to ensuring that the Central Bank would not suffer any loss in the event of default on the loan assistance. The Bank has received formal comfort from the Minister for Finance such that any shortfall on the liquidation of the collateral is made good.