Mr. Joe Walsh:

The position is that in any modern democracy it is important to have a stable banking arm and, demonstrably again since 2009 under the leadership of Mr. Boucher, the Bank of Ireland has transformed itself and is in a position to be supportive of small businesses and mortgages and to assist distressed mortgages and a range of areas. The bank has been supportive of the development role of the Government in the economy and that is in the public interest. Some might not like to hear it, but the fact of the matter is the economy is slowly recovering. That information is coming from a number of economic commentators and researchers whose job it is to examine such matters. What we have done with mortgage arrears for example is to train, recruit and put in place more than 700 people to restructure mortgages to the tune of 400 to 500 per week. We have retained our branch structure throughout the length and breadth of the country and trained personnel in every single one of those branches to give intensive care to people and provide a menu of packages because we want to keep as many people as possible in their homes. Of the 161,000 mortgage holders, 90% are meeting their targets.