Mr. Mark Cunningham:

I am the director of business banking for Bank of Ireland and I am joined by my colleague, Mr. Sean Farrell, head of agriculture in the bank. I thank the committee for the opportunity to present before it today.

As we recently announced in terms of the business and agri market, the bank has seen a 13% increase in approvals to approximately €3.6 billion so far this year. Agriculture represents a very significant portion of that. Not alone does the agricultural book represent circa 10% of the overall exposures for the bank in the business and agri sector in Ireland, but this year alone, in terms of the volume of drawdowns, agriculture represents over 23% of the total. As a sector for the bank, it is extremely important. I will now hand over to Mr. Farrell, our head of agriculture, to make some brief opening comments.