Mr. Ray MacSharry:

I proposed at the board meeting rather than to the remuneration committee that the fees of non-executive directors be cut by 25%, which they were. Some were reluctant to do it but it was done. I am now chairman of the remuneration committee but since I joined as an ordinary member in 2008, no increment, bonus or salary increase has been paid to any staff member.

We have lost 400 staff in that time under voluntary severance. The last payment made to staff in Permanent TSB was 2.5% of a previous arrangement paid in 2008, before we joined, under the instructions of the Labour Relations Commission. In fairness to the board, it did not want to pay it but was made to pay. In our time nothing was paid - no bonuses or increments. The only action was a 25% reduction in non-executive fees.