Dr. Ailish Byrne:

Deputy Penrose referred to a withdrawal from rural Ireland. We have seen a huge change over the last few years in the way our customers choose to do their banking. More and more customers use online and mobile applications for day-to-day banking as opposed to the more traditional branch-based transactions. All of these behaviours are driven by the desire for quick and convenient access when and where customers want it. Importantly, we expect this type of change to continue. For farmers and business customers, a team of business development managers is available to meet farmers on their farms in rural areas. We will continue to invest to make Ulster Bank an easier bank for our customers to do business with.

Senator Paul Daly asked about stocking loans and changes in that context. As I said in my opening statement, we have received requests from farmers over the past couple of months to extend for three to six months stocking loans that were due to be repaid in the early months of the summer in circumstances in which animals did not thrive as expected due to adverse weather conditions in the period. We have supported farmers with an extension to those stocking loans. As to what we are seeing with beef finishers in particular, they are coming to us seeking approval, which they are getting. However, there is a lot more discussion with us this year compared to other years. They are looking at a viable market for their feed this year compared to other years. We all know the margins for beef finishers are very tight and that there is a market out there for their feed, in particular from dairy farmers. As such, they are asking themselves whether they will finish animals this year.

The single farm payment is a typical time when many farm bills fall due for payment, including bank term debt. If farmers look to go on interest only for 12 months, we can look at that. Merchant, contractor and other main bills usually come in around that period of time as everyone knows it is a good time for freeing flows of cash into the farm business. We will look to put working capital solutions in place for farmers to get to that period as we recognise their costs are a lot higher this year than in other years. I will hand over to Mr. Cullen who can look at the SME and overdraft matters.