Mr. Richie Boucher:

We take our responsibility seriously. Notwithstanding different views about the issue, we have repaid all the State aid, as has been confirmed by the European Commission. The taxpayers are in profit in respect of their investment.

Bank of Ireland has two State owned competitors. Whatever definition one uses for repayment, these banks still owe taxpayers €24 billion. Slide 35, which refers specifically to mortgages, shows that AIB's defaulted loans amount to €5.5 billion, while those of Permanent TSB amount to €4.7 billion. Bank of Ireland's defaulted loans amount to €1.9 billion and our arrears are half of the industry average. Our restructures stick for longer and we have more resolutions in place on our book, relatively speaking. That is the context in which one must look at Bank of Ireland.