Mr. Richie Boucher:

Chairman, members of the joint committee my name is Richie Boucher. I'm currently the group chief executive officer of Bank of Ireland Group, a position I've held since February 2009. From January 2006 to February 2009 I was chief executive of Bank of Ireland's retail financial services Ireland division. From March 2004 to December 2005, I was chief executive of Bank of Ireland's corporate banking business. The inquiry directed me to attend the committee and be available to it with respect to certain themes in the context of the three roles I hold, or held, with the group for the relevant dates. I was also required to provide a written statement in relation to those themes. The Chairman's opening remarks to the inquiry in December 2014 identified that the purpose of the inquiry was to identify mistakes which were made, to learn from these and to avoid their recurrence. I've provided the inquiry with a comprehensive written statement and have provided documents within, and not within, the public domain relating to my written submission.

Chairman, may I suggest that if yourself and the committee feel that it would be the most productive use of your time, rather than me continuing on a prepared a statement I could move straight to questions and answers.