Ms Ethna Tinney:

I thinks it's a very interesting question because it has always struck me that - and this is not just EBS; it happens all the time in firms, in businesses, not just banks - that one of the things that a chief executive will try to do is to establish a very close relationship with his chairman, or her chairman, and the purpose of that is to control the board. And, therefore, I do think it's a fundamental weakness in business that there is this intimacy between a chairman and a chief executive. And you can see very clearly from the documents in Vol. 1 about you know, the arguments between Ron Bolger, Cathal McGee and Brian Joyce, that Brian expresses his belief that there is no other way of working than, you know, close liaison with the chief executive officer. But it does weaken the ability of non-executives to influence the board.