Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Mr. Smith, I'd like to refer to core booklet, page No. 4 ... this is a minute of a meeting between Kieran Kelly of Ernst and Young and Ted McGovern, chief executive of the EBS, which took place on 7 February 2007 and which was written and signed by Kieran Kelly. He says, and I quote, He goes:

I asked [Ted McGovern] how there focus on commercial lending fits into the ethos of the society as a retail ... service provider. [It goes on to say] He sees the business as having the potential to generate returns which can be fed back into the rest of the business and the possibility that they may be creating a franchise that is attractive for the future.

Can I ask you, first of all, why would the auditor be questioning the chief executive on the business model of the bank, if that, we're led to believe, isn't the role of an auditing firm in relation to questioning the business model of a bank?