Mr. John Moran:

Under the stabilisation Acts, all of the directors have a job to act in the public interest. This is why I say it is quite difficult to tease out the concept of public interest director and determine how the role might differ from others. All directors have an obligation to the company and to keep an eye on the shareholders' interests. At times, there is a conflict between what people might think is in the public interest and what is in the interest of the shareholder. Again, this is a further complexity because people might say it is in the public's interest to have very cheap loans made available or very high interest rates. Those who are benefiting from them across the economy may believe there is an advantage but it is very much anathema to the interest of the shareholder, whose interest is to see banks become profitable. From the summer of last year, as we became more aware from the discussions with the regulators of the lack of progress of the banks, we have had much more engagement with all the directors. We have asked public interest directors to focus particularly on lending to SMEs, for example, and mortgage arrears resolutions. We regard all directors of the bank as having a responsibility to solve the problems.