Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I shall try to use even less time. The document with which we have been supplied indicates that the underlying loss between December 2011 and June 2012 increased from €722 million to €907 million, a rise of 24%. Therefore, the most recent figures supplied to the committee indicate that the position on the investment the taxpayer made - involuntarily - in September 2008 has depreciated by 24%. The document also indicates that impairment charges rose from €901 million in the first half of 2011 to €978 million in the same period in 2012. This is despite the fact that on page 8 of the document a statement is made to the effect that "Impairment charges below the level incurred in H2 2011 but remain elevated", whereas, in fact, they increased. A similar statement is made on page 13, namely, "Impairment charges remain elevated but have reduced from the level in H2 2011". Someone who stopped reading at page 8 or page 13 and did not read as far as page 26 would have obtained a completely different view of the position on impairment charges. Such charges have actually increased by 9% or €77 million.