Mr. Ken Burke:

On the question of pressure being exerted to reduce the terms of a facility, we have spoken about AIB's experience of the draw on funds and indicated that 72% of the facilities were drawn for periods in excess of four years. We were clear and explicit to our own people internally on the features of the scheme. We were conscious that we wanted to reduce complexity for farming customers. We did not change our application form and did not introduce additional complexity. Rather, we equipped our relationship managers with the information required to obtain the information the SBCI needed for the scheme. That was important. Any assertion that there may have been a focusing on shorter terms cannot be borne out by the numbers about which we have spoken.

As for the demand for the scheme, I agree that it was filled in a short window. As we mentioned in our opening remarks, we catered for some customers beyond the terms of the €60 million fund to which AIB had subscribed. We did not want customers to be disadvantaged because the shutters had come down on the scheme after a short time. We have honoured these commitments.

On average interest rates, we are acutely conscious of the needs of the agriculture sector. Beyond the €60 million scheme, we are a long way through our second tranche of funding of €200 million from the SBCI. We have had broad SME funding of €400 million. Agriculture has been the largest sector to avail of that funding. It has been offered at a rate of 2% below our standard variable loan rate. It has been active for several years at a rate of 4.5%. On the demand for schemes such as this, in particular, working capital, in its product suite AIB has a farmer credit line which we believe offers a market leading rate of 3.825%. For customers looking for low-cost working capital funding, that is a product that is freely advertised and available to customers. It works alongside their overdraft facilities and can be accessed online. Within our product suite we have low-cost funding available to farmers.

We saw strong demand for the scheme. Was some of that demand accelerated by the window of opportunity? Possibly, it was. When we look at the growth of our agricultural lending in the first quarter, we suggest some people were making applications for credit they might not use until later in the year.

For north of 60% of scheme funding applications have been booked. There were some customers, however, who were prudently planning to meet working capital requirements throughout the year, given that the terms of the scheme allowed for funds to be drawn by the end of December.

On Deputy Martin Kenny’s other main point about interest rates, AIB has passed on four standard variable rate reductions to mortgage customers. It has the lowest standard variable rate available in the Republic of Ireland.