Ms Ann Nolan:

I do not doubt that that is the Chairman's experience. We have put a huge effort into trying to ensure the banks provide SME support. I know that hundreds of thousands of SME loans have been restructured all by the banks - AIB, in particular, because it had the biggest portfolio of SME loans - over the last number of years. Not all of those restructures were necessarily done in the way the owners of the loans would have wanted but quite of lot them were and they are performing extremely well now. My understanding is that the NPLs in the banks are falling as a result of these restructures being in place and fixed. That is not to contradict the fact that some people are unhappy with what has happened.

In terms of new lending, our biggest initiative in the last 12 months has been setting up the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, which is providing low interest loans through the banks and through non-bank financiers to SMEs across the country. We will continue to grow that over the next 12 months to ensure SMEs have an alternative not just to the main banks but to leasing companies and so on to get low interests loans to develop further.