Mr. Mark Cunningham:

I thank the committee for this opportunity to address it. I am joined by my colleague, Mr. John Fitzgerald, who is the head of our agricultural division. He will address some key issues for the committee. Our remarks are set out in a short presentation that has been furnished to the joint committee. Bank of Ireland is the largest lender to the Irish economy, with new lending of €6.7 billion last year. Our share of the new SME and agriculture lending market is over 50%. We have the largest retail network in the country. The overall agriculture or primary industries loan book has de-leveraged by approximately 9% since 2014. During this period, Bank of Ireland has managed to increase its loan book by 8%. We have done that by having over 50% of the flows in the market. We see the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland cashflow scheme as an opportunity to further expand our participation in that segment of the market. I will now ask Mr. Fitzgerald to make a few comments on the scheme.