Mr. Joe Walsh:

Yes, I can confirm that I contributed strongly at board level, first of all in relation to SMEs. My background was as the manager of a small business in Clonakilty, a little town in west Cork with which the Chairman will be familiar. The fact is that a target of €3.5 billion was given for new and increased lending. Not alone have we met that but we have exceeded it.

As regards mortgages, like everybody else I was extremely concerned about those people who got into difficulties mainly due to factors outside their control. Because of the economic situation, processes were put in place in tandem with the Central Bank to ensure that they were treated fairly. Packages of measures were put in place to ameliorate the worst effects of the recession on those people.