Mr. Eddie Cullen:

I am sure everyone wants to come back to the overdraft point one last time. Let us look at the reality. As with AIB, the overdraft utilisation rate in Ulster Bank in the agri-sector was at approximately 33% in July this year which is exactly the same as it was last summer.

Importantly, overdrafts as a percentage of our total agribook are 7%, so it is not anywhere near core to what our farmer customers do with us. It is important to recognise overdrafts are a specific product and they are not meant to be hardcore. They are meant to provide inter-month and inter-period flexible financing when people need it and, by the way, that is farmers and SMEs. When we see overdraft limits go hardcore and become long term we work with our customers, be they farmers or SMEs, to take them off that product and put them onto a term-debt product that is more appropriate to their needs. I know there has been much talk about 8%-type margins around overdrafts but that is not where customers, be they SMEs or agricustomers, borrow from the banking sector. It is a specific product which provides a specific function, and our rates are significantly lower for term financing.