Mr. Bernard Byrne:

We recognise that this was a very difficult decision for us to reach. It was an essential decision from an economic point of view. It reflected the demographic changes that have taken place at many of these locations over a long period of time. Perhaps more important, it reflected the fact that the way people bank now is very different from the way they banked 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago, when many of the branches in question were opened.