Mr. Cormac O'Rourke:

As everyone knows, Ireland is a small country and conflicts do arise. What is important is how one deals with them. My practice in TII was that conflicts of interest would be the number one item on the agenda at every single board meeting. I understand that is also the case in the LDA. It certainly will be when I am in the chair.

It is important to go beyond that. As I worked with my colleagues in TII over the years, we developed a much more inclusive approach to conflicts. Even when we were discussing matters which did not involve decisions but were general discussions, people would disclose affiliations, friendships or whatever in an open and transparent way so that their colleagues on the board would know where they were coming from and how they might be consciously or unconsciously influenced. I am very conscious of that. I work part-time for Goodbody Corporate Finance. Where Goodbody or one of its clients is involved, I will recuse myself from the discussion. Not only that, I have passed the normal retirement age and the reason I am working part time is to finish off a couple of projects for semi-State companies in the energy sector. Even when I am no longer working for them, I will still recuse myself from projects involving Goodbody and its clients.