AIB Group PLC. Could I please have your attention just for an important safety announcement for a moment? For the safety and comfort of all attending today's event, could I ask you please not to block the aisles with bags, coats, or other large items. I just want to draw your attention to the exits. There are three exits from this room. The door at the back, which you entered through, this large door here to the right, to my right, your left, and there's a further door to my right at the very back of the room here that some of you might be able to see. If you wish to use the restrooms, please approach a member of the security team located at each door, and they'll provide you with direction. There are no fire drill plans for Molesworth Street today. If the fire alarm sounds, please make your way to the nearest fire exit in a calm manner. Please follow the instructions of the security staff and make your way to the outside evacuation point, which is indicated to you. And please, if I could ask you just to make a note of the nearest exit to you right now. And finally, could I ask you to check that your mobile phone is switched off for the duration of the meeting? Thank you very much. I'll hand over now to our chairman, Mr. Jim Pettigrew. Thank you. Thank you, Conor, and good morning, everybody. Can I just extend a very, very warm welcome to you all from myself and the board at AIB, and indeed, everyone at AIB. It's really good to see our shareholders back. It hardly seems, I don't know about you, it hardly seems like a year since we were all gathered here, but here we are. You're all absolutely welcome. My name is Jim Pettigrew, and I have the great pleasure to be chairing the meeting today. We have confirmed we are quorate, and quorum is present, so I can now formally, ladies and gentlemen, open the meeting. The notice of the meeting, together with the 2023 annual report, was posted to shareholders on the third of April this year, and it is available at all times on our website. Now, on the podium today, here at Molesworth Street, I have, of course, on my right, the very familiar figure of our-your Chief Executive, Dr. Colin Hunt. And next to Colin, we've got our CFO, Donal Galvin. And on my extreme left, Helen Dooley, our Group General Counsel. And you just heard, of course, just at the top there of the meeting, from our company secretary, Conor Gouldson. So that completes the top of on the podium today. Also today, we have our directors, your directors, with us here in the front row. And I'll just quickly introduce. There are no changes from last year, so these will be, for those who attended last year, familiar, familiar faces. We've got a complete attendance of the directors, apart from Anik Chaumartin from France, who's just had to unfortunately, fortunately leave. But just very quickly, we've got Basil Geoghegan here, just there. There's Basil. Tanya Horgan. There's Tanya. We've got Sandy Kinney, who's the head of and is our Chair of the Audit Committee. Elaine MacLean is here, too. Elaine is a fellow Scot, actually, incidentally. Andy Maguire, who's at the end here. Brendan McDonagh, who's the Deputy Chair and Chair of the Risk Committee, sitting here. He'll be very familiar to you. Helen Normoyle is here as well, and Helen, of course, is the Senior Independent Director and also Chair of our Sustainability Committee. Ann O'Brien is here, too. Here is Ann, Chair of the Technology and Data Advisory Committee. We also have Fergal O'Dwyer in here. Raj Singh is here. And last, but certainly not least, Jan Sijbrand from Holland. So that, ladies and gentlemen, is your board of directors. The directors present here will be available after the meeting as well, and I know you've mingled with a number of them and had a chance to have a chat with them before the meeting. We are here afterwards, so if you want to just catch up on any informal things that we don't cover during the formalities today, there's your opportunity, maybe over another coffee. I will be inviting Colin to give an overview of the bank's performance during 2023, just very shortly. And he'll also provide, we've just announced our sort of a first quarter trading statement, and Colin can just fresh off the press, give us an update on that and a number of the exciting developments that we've been doing and dealing with during the year. So that to come just very, very shortly. We also have a number of our colleagues from customer care. You'll notice when you just came in, there they are over there. So if after the meeting, you feel you know, something you want to talk about in terms of, you know, individual situations around, some of the services or whatever we've done, they are there to help you and will be really keen to do so. So do take them up on that offer. Now, in my statement in the annual report that I referred to earlier, I highlighted the very strong results achieved by the group in 2023, and this has enabled the board to recommend a number of significant resolutions for your consideration. The first, of course, being the final dividend of EUR 0.26568 per share, which will be paid next week, subject, of course, to the approvals today. Of equal significance is the proposal under consideration by you at the EGM, which will come just after this AGM, that the group buyback almost EUR 1 billion of its shares, which are currently held by the state. Of course, over the course of 2023, this year, the state shareholding in the group has reduced. When we met last time, it was 56.89%, and it's reduced down to 40.77%. and as of last week, this actually, there was a further decline to 37.99%, following sales by the minister in January since January. The proposed transaction, which will be considered at the AGM, will, if consummated, result in reducing the state shareholding further to 32.9%. I will now actually, a great pleasure to hand over to our Chief Executive, Colin, for his address, and indeed, update on current trading. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you for taking the time to join us today. It's great to welcome those of you here in person today, as those of you, as well as those online, to update you on the group's performance for 2023, and for the first quarter of this year, as per our trading statement, which was released to the market at 7:00 A.M. this morning. 2023 was the most successful year in the history of AIB. The results that we reported on the sixth of March reflect not only a supportive economic backdrop and a normalized monetary policy environment, but were also underpinned by the consequences of deliberate management actions taken in recent years to strengthen our business in the interest of all our stakeholders. Over the past few years, we have transformed, restored, and repaired our business. We expanded our range of products and services. We integrated new enterprises and portfolios. We opened a record number of new accounts, bringing our customer base to 3.3 million. We put sustainability at the very heart of our business model, and we reduced our own carbon emissions by 49% since 2019. We returned the group to majority private ownership, and we transformed our balance sheet, which is now one of the strongest in Europe. Our profit in 2023 exceeded EUR 2 billion, which equipped us to propose total distributions of EUR 1.7 billion, while maintaining a robust capital position with a fully loaded CET1 ratio at the end of last year of 15.8%. On the back of a very successful three-year strategy cycle, we are confident in our ability to deliver for our stakeholders over the years ahead, as underlined by our new medium-term targets, which 2026 costs below EUR 2 billion and a cost income ratio of less than 50%, a CET1 target of greater than 14%, and a return on tangible equity of 15%. The Irish government has made good progress in meeting its stated strategic objective of reducing its shareholding in AIB Group. Through the combined impacts of an ongoing trading plan, accelerated buybacks, and a directed buyback, the state's shareholding in our business has fallen from 57% at the end of 2022 to its current level of just below 38%. Thanks to very strong organic capital generation, we are equipped to deliver a 345% increase in total distributions. For 2023, we are proposing to you a cash distribution to all our shareholders of EUR 696 million, which is equivalent to 26.568 cents per share, which is an increase of over 300% over the 2022 cash dividend. In addition, having received regulatory approval and following discussions with the Department of Finance, we're on track to execute a directed buyback of EUR 1 billion. As this proposed distribution exceeds 5% of our market cap, it requires approval from you, our shareholders, and we intend seeking that required approval from you today. Successful execution of this proposed distribution would have the effect of reducing the state's shareholding in AIB by over 5%, leaving the Irish government's holding in the group at less than 33% post our proposed Directed Buyback. I'm pleased to announce that the group had a very strong first quarter performance, and with continued momentum across our business and the embedding of our strategic priorities, we are confident in our outlook for 2024. AIB continues to be in a position of strength, with a robust balance sheet, a stable deposit base, and a growing loan book, enabling us to support our customers in the wider economy. Total income increased by 18% versus the same period in 2023. Costs are up by 7% in the first quarter, in line with guidance, reflecting the inflationary environment, the introduction of variable pay and health insurance, and higher staff numbers to serve the enlarged group. Total new lending was EUR 2.8 billion in the first quarter, broadly in line with the first quarter of last year. The Irish mortgage market continued to perform strongly. Our new mortgage lending was EUR 800 million in the quarter and resulted in a market share for AIB Group of 35.4%. Personal lending and retail banking was up 14%, reflecting our larger customer base. SME credit demand in Ireland remains subdued, and new lending was broadly in line with the first quarter of last year. New lending in capital markets, excluding property, was in line with the first quarter of 2023, while there was a decrease in the UK. Climate Capital had a very strong performance as we focus on financing the energy transition and ESG infrastructure. Green lending accounted for 34% of new lending in the first quarter, with EUR 12.5 billion of new green lending since 2019, as we continue to support our customers on the transition to a lower carbon economy. AIB's fully loaded CET1 at the end of the first quarter was 15.9%, comfortably ahead of regulatory requirements. CET1 movements in the first quarter include organic capital generation, partially offset by a dividend accrual and an increase in risk-weighted assets, primarily as a result of balance sheet growth. Our strong capital position enables us to continue to support our customers, invest in our business, and make distributions to our shareholders. As we move into our next strategic cycle, our new strategy is centered on an informed view of our customers' needs and is anchored in a progressive ESG agenda. We have 3 strategic priorities for the next cycle: an enhanced focus on putting our customers first, greening the loan book, and driving greater operational efficiency. Those priorities will guide the group as we work to deliver our 3 medium-term financial targets and a ROTE of 15%. Focusing on customer first, over the past 5 years, we've seen a remarkable increase in the number of people who choose to bank with us, while more and more of our customers are active on our digital platforms. We were delighted to welcome 49% of the flow of customer migrations on foot of the departures of Ulster Bank and KBC, which is a clear reflection of the strength of our multi-channel, digitally-led approach. Supported by ongoing investment in data and analytics, as well as a broadening of our propositions, we will develop an even greater understanding of our customers and their needs, and that understanding will see us delivering more proactive, seamless banking services to our customers in the way that they want. At the same time, we will continue to green our loan book, building on our well-established and internationally recognized ESG credentials. We've existing commitments to become net neutral in our own business by 2030, while at least 70% of all new lending will be green or transitional in nature by that date. We've established a new business segment, AIB Climate Capital, which will play a central role in our loan book growth over the years ahead and will enable us to be a market leader in financing energy transition and ESG infrastructure in selected developed markets and proven technologies. The scale of the opportunity here is unprecedented and will allow us to continue to be highly selective and disciplined in terms of the risks and projects which we choose to put on our balance sheet. Since 2019, we have deployed EUR 12.5 billion to support the transition, and in 2023, we announced that we'd increased our climate action fund to EUR 30 billion. Our third strategic priority is centered on operational efficiency and resilience. We will continue to invest across our business to ensure that we deliver our products and services quicker, more safely, and with less unnecessary complexity. This will have benefits not only in terms of customer experience, but also in terms of our cost to serve, and is manifest in our plans for customer delivery, technology, credit management, and risk measurement, and the agility and flexibility of our operations, and of course, our people strategy. We've also started to develop a next-generation mobile app and online banking experience for personal customers, with further enhancements also planned for our business mobile app, which we launched in 2023. Both will empower our customers through greater personalization and self-service within an integrated channel experience. We will deliver improvements on a phased, steady basis throughout this year and next. At the same time, we will continue to operate the largest branch network of any bank in Ireland, emphasizing our desire to be physically present for our customers where and when they need us, and our embeddedness in the communities which we serve. Turning to the economic outlook, modest growth is anticipated for the global economy. As regards Ireland's key trading partners, the International Monetary Fund is forecasting relatively strong U.S. growth and more sluggish growth in the Eurozone in 2024. In Ireland, the growth picture is one of resilient but moderate growth. Inflation has fallen rapidly, and interest rates are expected to be cut over the next couple of years. Combined with solid wage growth, this will boost real household incomes. Fiscal policy is set to remain supportive in the context of the healthy state of the public finances, and Ireland remains an attractive location for FDI. Meanwhile, private sector balance sheets remain characterized by low debt and high levels of savings. These buffers will be vital if any downside risks emerge to impact growth in our highly open economy. From an AIB perspective, we believe the group is now more strongly positioned than at any other point in its history. Our achievements to date, supported by the robust Irish economy and a resilient balance sheet, provide the platform on which we will build an even stronger AIB over the years ahead. We look forward with confidence and ambition. We will deliver for our, our stakeholders, and we will do so progressively and sustainably. We will continue to prove by doing for our customers, our shareholders, and the well-being of the communities that we serve. Thank you. Well, thank you, Colin, and I do hope shareholders found that helpful and useful just to hear an update from you, our chief exec. So really appreciated that, Colin. Thank you. We now, ladies and gentlemen, come to the formal part of the meeting. There are quite a lot of resolutions we've got to go through, so please bear with me. We have to go through these in detail, so your patience in this regard, but it is important, would be really appreciated. In fact, I said 30 resolutions. Indeed, there are 30 resolutions, and these will include three resolutions requiring to create a mechanism for making an odd-lot offer to shareholders, and I'll cover that in detail just a little bit later. Of course, as usual, you will have the opportunity to ask questions in a few moments. If you would prefer just to do that privately rather than in public, please make contact with Conor, the company secretary, after the meeting, and of course, he will help you as much as is possible. The relevant email address in the notice of the meeting, and Conor, of course, you can do it by email if that's what you want to do as well. Okay. Between myself and senior executives present, we will do our very best as well to answer any questions you have. Where more information is required, if you provide details, we will try and update you and provide you with answers, and follow up in that way. Also, I just need to make it clear to you and ask you respectfully, with all questions that come along, can we make sure they're focused on the agenda of the meeting? And that's what's a requirement of the governance and the legislative environment for AGM. So thank you for that in advance. As a matter of procedure, we will propose the 30 resolutions in one section and then take questions in relation to all 30 resolutions when that is complete. You're entitled to ask any question you may have on any resolution in that question and answer session. So I hope that makes it easier for you, 'cause that's what we're trying to do. So I seek your patience as the question time will come later. The board does believe it's important that the intentions of all shareholders who register a vote are taken into account, and therefore, I'm now calling a poll on each of the resolutions to be proposed. We'll be voting by poll on each of them separately, together with the resolutions proposed at the EGM, to be held immediately after following this meeting. And at the end of the EGM, and that, so we'll get to do all the voting at the end. And that just, I think, makes sense and makes it easier for all of us. The full text of each resolution is included in page 12 to 17 of the notice of the Annual General Meeting. We will come to the questions after I have proposed all the resolutions. I now need to start going through the resolutions. First resolution on the agenda relates to the annual report, the financial, report here for 2023, which I will propose shortly as an ordinary, this is an ordinary resolution. Before I do that, I need to turn to the independent auditors' report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Their first, actually, since their formal appointment, by you last year. Ronan Doyle, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, is present here in Molesworth Street today with his colleagues, Emma Scott and Gillian Carroll, and they are most- I'm not sure where Ronan is, actually, in the sea, we can see your faces, but they're here, and you're most welcome. The independent auditors' report is very detailed and is set out on pages 200 to 209, inclusive of our 2023 annual financial report, which has been published on our website as well. I now propose the following resolution: That the following are a view of the company's affairs, the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2023, together with the reports of the directors and the auditor thereon, be received and considered. We now move on to resolution two, and this relates to the declaration of a final dividend for 2023, which I referred to earlier, and indeed, the chief exec mentioned, too. It's intended, subject, of course, to your approval, that this dividend be paid on the 10th of May of this year. I'm pleased to propose as an ordinary resolution, and that is that a final dividend of EUR 0.26568 per ordinary share be declared for the year ended 31 December 2023. Moving on to resolution number 3, this deals with auditors' remuneration. The work of the auditor and the level of audit fees are reviewed on behalf of the board by the board audit committee and Sandy's audit committee. The committee is satisfied with the effectiveness of the auditor and the fee, and that the fees are appropriate. I'm pleased, therefore, to propose, as an ordinary resolution again, to authorize the directors to fix the remuneration of the auditor. Moving on to resolution number 4. This relates to the continuation in office of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor. Under Irish company law, the statutory auditor is automatically reappointed. except in very specific and limited circumstances, which do not relate to here, and accordingly, this vote is an advisory vote only. So I propose the following, and again, it's an ordinary resolution, that the continuation in office of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor of the company until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the company be considered. Resolution number five deals with the election or re-election of the directors. Now, as advised in my letter, accompanying the notice of the meeting, AIB Group plc is required to comply with the provisions of the Irish listing rules, and indeed, the UK listing rules relating to controlling shareholders, and the election or re-election of independent non-executive directors. Now, as the Minister of Finance in Ireland is a controlling shareholder for the purposes of the listing rules, that is, the minister exercises control over more than 30% of the voting rights of the company, the following resolutions, and I have to list them: 5A, C, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, and O, must be approved by a majority vote of both in that situation. Firstly, the shareholders of the company, and then as independent shareholders of the company. company. That is the shareholders of the company who are not controlling shareholders, so excluding the Minister of Finance. Now, the board is confident that all directors are experienced, knowledgeable, have the right skills, bring valuable skills, indeed, to the board, and provide an objective perspective on all business that comes before the board. The board considers that the contribution of each individual director and the board as a whole, taking... continues to be important to the long run, sustainable success of the company. We've got all biographical details and information on directors. So if you want to look at that, you can see these set out in pages 70 to 73 of the annual report. So I now propose as a separate order resolution, as I was explaining, that each of Anik Chaumartin, Donal Galvin, Basil Geoghegan, Tanya Horgan, Colin Hunt, Sandy Kinney Pritchard, Elaine MacLean, Andy Maguire, Brendan McDonagh, Helen Normoyle, Ann O'Brien, Fergal O'Dwyer, Jan Sijbrand, and Raj Singh all be re-elected as a director. Now, you'll notice there's one notable exception, and that's me, because I can't vote myself. So I would like to hand over to Colin just to deal with that. Thank you, Chairman. I propose that Jim Pettigrew be re-elected as a director. Thank you, Colin. So that. Chairman? Yes, of course. Is it possible to speak? I don't want to. Is it possible to speak on your re-election and Colin Hunt's? Sorry, I can't hear you. Sorry. He wants to ask a question. Go on ahead. I was asking, is it possible? I'm sorry for interrupting you, Mr. Chairman. I don't know you, never met you. But is it possible to speak on the motion of your re-election and Colin Hunt's re-election? We'll do that to question. I thought I'd do it before the vote, but- I'll do it to question time. Sorry? We'll do it just before the vote. We'll do it at the questions, yes? If you can just wait for that, that'd be really helpful. Thank you, and we'll follow up on that. Yeah. Great. We're now on, ladies and gentlemen, to resolution number 6. It's an advisory resolution which deals with the remuneration of the company's directors, as disclosed again in the 2023 annual financial report. So I propose the following ordinary resolution as an advisory, this is an advisory resolution, that the directors' remuneration report, as set out on pages 106 to 108 of the 2023 annual financial report, be considered. Resolution 7 is also an advisory resolution and relates to the remuneration policy. I propose, as an ordinary resolution, that the remuneration policy, as set out on pages 101 to 105 of the annual financial report, 2023, to be considered. Resolutions 8 through to 13 are very technical in nature and are quite long-winded, unfortunately, and are set out in detail, but they're set out in real detail in the letter, the accompanying letter, from the notice of the meeting. They are considered to be in line with market practice and take account of relevant guidelines and principles. With the consent of the members present here today, that we would like to propose that we take the full text of these resolutions as read, and I will instead describe briefly the purposes of each of these resolutions for you now. Is everybody content with that? I see nodding heads, and I thank you, thank you for that. Resolution 8 is an ordinary resolution, which I now propose to authorize the directors to allot and issue new shares should the need arise, representing up to one-third of the company's issued share capital. I propose resolution 9A. This is a special resolution, which, if passed, would allow for the limited disapplication of pre-emption rights while empowering the directors to allot equity securities for cash, otherwise, and in accordance with statutory pre-emption rights. This limited, and it's very limited, disapplication is restricted to just 5% of the current issued share capital. I also propose resolution 9B. This is another special resolution, which, if passed, would allow for the limited disapplication of pre-emption rights proposed to empower the directors to allot equity shares-... securities for cash to fund an acquisition or what the directors determine to be a specific capital investment. And again, this limited, this application is capped at 5% of the current issued share capital. Tablings these two resolutions in this way is the recommended practice of the Pre-Emption Group, which monitors the protection of shareholders' rights here in Ireland and indeed, in the U.K. Resolution 10 is proposed by me as a special resolution to authorize the market purchase by the company of its own shares, up to 10% of the company's issued ordinary shares as of today's date. Resolution 11 is a special resolution to authorize the company to reissue shares purchased by it and not canceled, but instead, held as treasury shares. If granted, the minimum and the maximum prices at which treasury shares may be reissued shall be determined in accordance with the resolution and the company's articles of association. I now propose Resolution 11 to the meeting. Resolution 12 is also proposed by me as a special resolution to authorize the directors to call a general meeting other than, may I say, an annual general meeting, such as we are here today, or a meeting for the passing of a special resolution or of appointment of a director on not less than 14 clear days' notice. As I said in my letter to you, the exercise of this authority would only be considered by the directors in very limited circumstances, where time is of the essence and where it would be to the advantage of shareholders generally at that time. I also propose Resolution 13 as a special resolution. This resolution, if passed, will renew the authority of the company, granted by you for the first time in 2021, to make off-market purchases of ordinary shares from the Minister for Finance or his nominee, pursuant to the Directed Buyback contract entered into between the company and the minister on the third, sorry, forgive me, of June 2021. I wish to assure you that any exercise of this authority, now or indeed in the future, will only be contemplated by your board and undertaken if it considers that such a transaction will be in the best interests of shareholders as a whole, and relevant regulatory approvals are indeed in place. Now I move on to the resolutions, which I mentioned earlier, Resolution three, to enable an odd-lot offer to shareholders. This year, for the first time, I am proposing on behalf of the board, a number of resolutions to approve a mechanism for making an odd-lot offer to shareholders. This will allow us to make an offer to shareholders holding 20 or fewer shares, so small number of shares, to buy these shares at a premium to the market price and allow them to realize the current value for these legacy holdings without any dealing or co-dealing costs, which might have otherwise ordinarily been incurred by them. While this is something we have had in contemplation for a number of years, you may remember, those of you who were at the AGM last year, it was specifically requested at last year's AGM by a shareholder, Mr. Oliver Daly, and we undertook to develop a proposal for consideration at this meeting. So Resolution 14 is proposed as a special resolution, which seeks your permission to amend the articles of association by inserting a new Article 163, which will facilitate the making of the odd-lot offer, and also makes provision for eligible odd-lot holders who do not opt out of the odd-lot offer to be deemed to have agreed to sell their shareholding. Resolution 15, the second of these three, is proposed as an ordinary resolution to authorize the directors to implement an odd-lot offer at any time over the next 18 months. The final one in this section of these three, Resolution 16, is proposed as a special resolution to authorize AIB to purchase any shares to be acquired under an odd-lot offer off market. This requires the approval by you and subsequent execution of the odd-lot purchase contract, which has been available for inspection at the company's registered office, as I understand, Conor, since the third of April 2024, and it's indeed on the company website, yes? And I have an initial copy of this for identification purposes. So look, I thank you very much for bearing with me. You know, we have to go through this as a matter of procedure, and it's important, and so we've managed to get through these 30 resolutions. So thank you for your patience and understanding in that regard. It's really appreciated, ladies and gentlemen. It's now, as I promised, time where we can take questions. So, you know, firstly, I would like just to take any questions. Sometimes shareholders will, in fact, submit questions in advance of this meeting, and, in this case, Conor, company secretary here, Conor Gouldson, he brings these together, and we'll read these on behalf of shareholders. So before I open it up, let's just deal with these first, Conor. Thank you. Over to you. Thank you, Chairman. We've a few questions. Five shareholders asked us to ask us questions to be asked and answered at the meeting, so I'll just run through these now, if I may. The first question is from Mr. John Flynn, and the question is: Will the AIB or the Minister for Finance of Ireland intend to put matters right, especially for the small investors who put their trust in AIB and who lost out because of the reorganization in Allied Irish Banks? So our answer to that one is, the state injected fresh capital into the group during the global financial crisis, and the effect of this was to significantly reduce the percentage of shares held by investors prior to that event. The nature of equity investment is that the holders of the ordinary shares are first to bear losses in such circumstances. The decisions taken prior to the global financial crisis are the cause of those losses, and AIB must treat all shareholders equally and cannot now or in the future, favor the investors who had stakes in the bank before the financial crisis. The next couple of questions are from Mr. Gerry Coughlan. The first is: Out of a total lending of EUR 12.3 billion in 2023, what percentage does AIB's green mortgage product account for? So the answer is, sustainability is a key strategic priority for AIB, as we seek to help our customers in the transition to a low-carbon economy. In 2023, our new green lending amounted to EUR 3.7 billion. Of this, new green homes lending amounted to EUR 1.8 billion. The bulk comprised our discounted green mortgage product, which is available to customers wishing to purchase homes with a BER rating of A to B3. The balance of this EUR 1.8 billion is accounted for by lending to energy-efficient homes with a BER rating of A to B2. We do not break down our green mortgage product lending for commercial reasons. And Mr. Coughlan's second question was: What interest rate is AIB's EUR 33.3 billion of excess customer deposits resting in the Central Bank earning? And our answer to that is, European Central Bank balances are currently earning the ECB deposit facility rate of 4%. His third question is: While the government has eased pay restrictions to allow for bonuses of up to EUR 20,000, has AIB capped any of the bonus disbursements it paid out on its 2023 earnings? So the answer there is, the government partially eased the pay restrictions in November 2022, which allowed for bonuses of up to EUR 20,000. For 2023, the Remuneration Committee limited the maximum award under the variable remuneration scheme to 5% of salary, which is capped at EUR 12,700, and this applies to all employees, including executive directors. And Mr. Coughlan's last question is: AIB paid back EUR 13.7 billion of its EUR 20.8 billion crisis-era rescue bill. The annual report says AIB would continue to engage with the minister on the matter, which the board considers a material risk to retaining senior staff. The question is, is AIB planning further reductions in the state's stake so as to remove pay restrictions at the bank? I understand discussions are underway with the Department of Finance relating to the planned stock buyback, which requires approval at AIB's AGM on the second of May. So the answer there is, as the chairman stated earlier, the EGM following this meeting has been convened to seek shareholder approval for the repurchase of shares from the minister up to a value of almost EUR 1.1 billion. The sole purpose of this transaction is to use some of the bank's excess capital to repay the state for its support during the global financial crisis and to advance returning the group fully to private ownership. AIB owes the Irish state an immense debt of gratitude for its support during the global financial crisis, and the above repurchase, plus the proposed cash dividend, will, subject to shareholder approval today, see an additional EUR 1.27 billion returned to the state. So the, the third shareholder who asked a question was, Richard Hynds, and his question, is: Can the bank explain how it is justifiable to have refunded all investors in Belfry 2, 3, and 4, and a number of investors in Belfry 5 and 6, yet leave hundreds of investors in this cohort who were sold the same product without a redress payment? Is it not, time now for the bank to do the right thing and refund all Belfry investors? So for those of you who just mightn't be familiar with Belfry, between 2002 and 2006, the group sold a series of speculative investments in UK commercial properties known as the Belfry Funds. Belfry Fund 1 realized a significant return of around 250%, while the other 5 funds suffered losses due to the global financial crisis and the downturn in the property market. The documentation was very clear about the high-risk nature of Belfry 5 and 6. Upon review, we found we did not make the level of risk involved in the investment sufficiently clear in Belfry Funds 2 to 4, so all investors in that grouping received a full refund. Belfry 5 and 6, however, was disclosed by us as a high-risk investment to the investors. We still undertook the same case-by-case review for every investor in Belfry 5 to 6, which assessed the suitability of the Belfry funds for investors. This involved checking that the investor's investment objectives, experience, and financial position were appropriately aligned to investing in the Belfry funds and that the documentation provided to investors was clear. Review outcomes and payments have been communicated to 99.8% of investors. Where the review concluded that the investment may have been unsuitable, investors re-received a full repayment of their investment plus additional compensation payments. Where the review concluded that an error may have been made in the process, investors received 50% of their investment, plus additional compensation payments. Where the review found the investment was suitable for the investor to whom it was sold, no payments were made. The next three questions are from Mr. Gordon Arthur Richards, and they deal with the odd-lot offer resolutions. Firstly, will the offer be substantially more than the market value? The answer is, should the company receive approval of the European Central Bank to repurchase shares, which would facilitate an odd-lot offer to small shareholders, it is intended that the offer would include a 5% premium to the market value of the shares at the time an actual offer is made. The second question is: Secondly, will the offer cover losses of the funds that the original share consolidation that took place in 2015 swallowed up? The answer is no. The share consolidation was on the basis of one new share for every 250 shares held. Any offer based on today's market price or market value, plus a 5% premium, would not bridge that gap. The third question is: Will the board of directors be taking steps to reimbursing all of the small shareholder, shareholders that are out of pocket? As stated earlier in our response to Mr. Flynn, AIB, like all public companies, must treat all shareholders equally and cannot now or in the future, favor the investors who had stakes in the bank before the financial crisis. The last shareholder who submitted some questions are, is, Valerie McCabe. Her first question is: AIB credit cards have a daily transaction limit of 12,700 EUR. Irrespective of the credit limit, that is the maximum limit that can be spent. There is no option to lift temporarily the limit or to have it increased. It is absolute. The computer says no, but why? It is annoying our customers who would like, for example, to book a cruise. It means we annoy our wealthiest customers and miss out on the transaction fees. Why cannot we be more flexible with our customers and, in the process, make more money from commissions? So our answer to that is, AIB operates a number of fraud protection mechanisms, including daily limits for our customers' protection. Should an issue occur in relation to daily limits, in most instances, customers can agree with the merchant to split the payment over different days or to pay the merchant using electronic funds transfer. The second question is: In the 2022, actually in 2023 results, we highlighted wealth management. Yet between 2022 and 2023, income has fallen from EUR 70 million to EUR 57 million. If you want a private banking account, you need to invest EUR 1 million with Goodbody, but they only have one retail investment product, a German government bond product. It is like shopping in a Soviet area, Soviet-era supermarket. If you ask about other options, the answer is: Niet, comrade. What are we doing to make money from our Goodbody investment and offer more to our high net wealth segment? So our final answer on this today is: Goodbody offers wealth management, asset management, and investment banking services to a range of personal, corporate, and institutional customers. Goodbody has an extensive offering for the high net worth segment. Goodbody's investment offering is extensive, covering the full spectrum of risk profiles, time horizons, and asset classes, including cash, bonds, equity, property, and alternatives, and including a wide range of discretionary active portfolio and fund solutions, from a simple bond portfolio to a selection of multi-asset portfolios and several pure equity solutions. In April 2023, we launched Goodbody Private, offering high net worth AIB customers the full range of investment and financial planning services of Goodbody through a collaboration with AIB Private Banking and utilizing AIB's distribution channels. The Chairman, they are all the questions we. That is all the questions that have come in, in advance of the meeting then. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. For that. Thank you. Right. As promised, now we can open it up and take questions from shareholders who are present here. If you have a question, it's the usual rules. You'll be familiar with these. Please raise your pink attendance card, and a member of the team, with people dotted around, will give you a microphone. Please clearly state your name before asking a question. If you're a proxy or you're a corporate representative, please make sure to say both your name and the shareholder to whom you represent. And just a reminder, again, I must ask you that you limit your questions today, obviously, to matters which are specifically related to the resolutions that are, you know, before us today. Now, just before I. You've raised your, yeah. Can I just? You were going to make, raise your point first, if you don't mind, because we should call, that'd be helpful. So if you can get the microphone to this gentleman. I didn't hear your name, sorry. Yeah. Patrick Kehoe. Patrick. Patrick Kehoe. Patrick, yeah. Okay. Good morning to you. Good morning to you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I never met you before. I only know you for the last half hour or whatever then, since we came in here, and you seem to be a very polite man, and I appreciate that. Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, the reason that I wouldn't be able to vote for you is that I wrote to you about an extraordinary, serious problem on the 22nd of December, 2021, regarding a non-shareholder, but regarding a customer of yours, or, and as he is now, an ex-customer, because the bank hounded him out of the bank as a customer. My complaint is that you and your colleague, Colin Hunt, who I both wrote to, didn't deal with the matter, despite the seriousness. It was so serious, Mr. Chairman, that this customer, who I won't name unless you ask me to, he joined the bank at 12 years of age. I'm sorry, I shouldn't say he joined the bank, but became a customer. That's okay. He was an extraordinarily good customer, right up to the time that it, the bank started having issues, not with him, but with somebody else, and they brought him into it. It was dirty tricks. I don't know if you're familiar, Mr. Chairman, but Lloyds Banking Group were caught, and I'm sure you are aware of them. They were caught doing dirty tricks, and unfortunately, AIB did engage in the same behavior, with at least two or maybe up to three, as I know of. I was one, and I appreciate I was apologized to in 2018. I think it was the only one that got a public apology from the chairman, which I then accepted. But unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, yourself and Colin or Mr. Hunt, whichever, decided to not deal with this matter. This is the size of the file, and you unfortunately sent it down to customer care, and customer care said they had nothing on it. This is the file. What's also very extraordinarily sad is the fact that this customer was tied up in trouble because AIB were fighting with me. Now, as I just said, without getting into the complications, but I received an unreserved apology, so we'll leave, we leave that as it is. But this man was asked, would he be patient with his complaint until such time that my complex complaints, which is two and a half foot of a file, had to be dealt with, and it was dealt with, except for this. So, Mr. Chairman, I'm going to give you some little bit of a background just to put now, you have it, but maybe in fairness, with all the transactions that you're doing, you won't remember. But this customer tried to use a leasing facility. Don't forget now, he was an extraordinarily good, and I put my absolute reputation on this, I can vouch for, impeccable customer. AIB accept that he's an impeccable customer. He applied for a lease for a secondhand tractor of the value of EUR 62,000, and he was accepted and agreed to purchase this tractor or to lease this tractor to him. The lease fell through on the first occasion for reasons that weren't given. He applied. He was asked to apply a second time. It fell through a second time. He applied a third time, a fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth time, and a seventh time. On the seventh time, it was successful. But by the time that the seventh time had come up, the man that was selling the tractor, who had given a demonstration to this customer, and the customer had possession, he was getting pretty annoyed with the fact that AIB wasn't paying. So this customer found another person to buy out the tractor from that dealer and that he'd be the seller. So on the seventh occasion, everything went through. But the man that took up the gauntlet wasn't paid, and this was raised at an AGM. The chairman at the time, a Mr. Hodgkinson, if I'm pronouncing him right, said that it was a bit unfair to him, that he was unaware. It was agreed at the AGM, after a very short discussion, that he would take action if he was given time. He didn't take any action. Then the man that was owed the money wrote to the chairman and told the chairman that he would repossess the tractor should he not be paid. Now, I'm not fully accepting... I can understand people behind me and yourselves thinking this is exaggeration. I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, this is fact. Then he got no response from that, and then the tractor was repossessed. The tractor was repossessed after two, almost two years between two different dealers, and neither dealer had been paid. The customer that bought the tractor from AIB had paid all the due monies all along, and as of this date, he has paid up to EUR 62,000, but he hasn't got the tractor. He has no tractor. The tractor is repossessed. AIB done nothing about it. AIB actually wrote to him and said to him, "We'll give you back your money, and after all, you're after getting free use of the tractor for your 2 years or for your 18 months," or whatever it was, and he refused that. Now, Mr. Chairman, I think you'll agree. I'm impressed with you. I think you're a polite man, and you're the type of man I like to deal with, because I'm a good man to fight, I'm a good man to hag, but I way prefer not to fight. And I like to deal with people that are courteous, and I like to feel that the people that I'm dealing with believe that I'm courteous as well. But my problem is, Mr. Chairman, you were given this information, and your colleague, Mr. Hunt, was given the information, and you took no action except handed it over. For the world to come back to say that AIB could find nothing on this complaint, and I'm handing up the complaint here now, and that's the thickness of it, and it might not necessarily be at all. So, Mr. Chairman, do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, thank you. you. And look, thank you. I understand what you're saying, and I hear exactly what you're saying. And you, too, you said I'm polite, and you've been very, very polite, and you, you've made your point. I think what we want.. You know, we've got, I've got to keep this fairly strictly to the agenda of the meeting, but I just did want to hear, I did want to hear what you have to say, and let us just, can we just deal with that? Let's try and I'll speak to you after the meeting, and we'll see. I'm sorry if I've not. I do like to reply to things, so I apologize if I haven't. I'm just not sure about the timings and all that. But let's, if, with the greatest of respect, and I'm really not trying to close you down, I promise you that, you've made your point in a very polite and measured way, so I thank you for that. And let us speak afterwards, and we'll see what we'll see where we are in that. Yeah. Well, Mr. Chairman, on account of your courtesy, I'll take you out to lunch, and thanks very much. You should take me out of the work, and I will come and see you immediately after the meeting. I'm not promising anything, but I'm just saying we, we'll do that. Well, Mr. Chairman, all I want is for you to read this file and give me answers, that's all. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Right, thank you. Yeah, I'm just trying to think of the order. There's a sea of pink cards coming up here, so I think you were first. Yeah. Mr. Burgess. I can't remember what that first guy did. Mr. Burgess, good morning. Yeah, Brendan Burgess is my name. Yes, good morning. I met you. Long-term shareholder. Yep. I'm a consumer activist, and I'm an account holder of AIB. Yes, I met you, I think, in the AGM part last, not last one, but the one before. Correct. Nice to meet you again. I'm just a little bit concerned that with talks of EUR 20 million, EUR 2 billion of profits, that you're forgetting the devastation caused by AIB to the 10,000 tracker mortgage holders, the people that you deprived of trackers, that you are forgetting those. So what I'd like to ask you, and I'd like the board, I'd like you to join me in wearing a black armband to remember the damage that you've done, because I'm really concerned that you'll progress over the next year, few years, and you will forget about this very important issue. I know you're going to say: Oh, well, this is a legacy issue, let's move on. But it's not a legacy issue for the people who were affected by it, and it's not a legacy issue while the people are still on the board who did not shout stop. You only stopped and treated these customers properly when you were forced to do so by the Financial Services Ombudsman and by the Central Bank. That was in 2020. Helen Normoyle, you were appointed in 2015, as far as I know, to the board. You were there for 5 years. You had probably 60 board meetings. At any time, you should have said, "This is wrong. We should not be doing this." Brendan McDonagh, you were appointed the following year. You were there for probably 48 board meetings. You could have said, "Stop." You never said stop. You never said: This is wrong. Our legal arguments here are stupid. They will not be passed, and we must do the right thing for customers. You did not do that, and you should have done that. I had great hope, Colin, that you would, when you were appointed, that you'd take a leaf out of Francesca McDonagh's book, and that you would deal with the issue. But what did you do? I met you shortly after you were appointed. You just repeated the same arguments. They never had a tracker mortgage. It wasn't a breach of contract; it was a service failure. We'd have charged them 12% if we'd given them trackers. And the reality is that, you know, you did not have the courage, you did not have the confidence, you did not have the authority to say, "This is wrong, and you should have done so." But look, Chairman, I'm biased. I'm a consumer activist. I represented some of these borrowers. So let's hear what the Central Bank said about this. This is when they fined AIB EUR 113 million, the largest fine at the time for any institution. Our investigation found that when AIB withdrew its tracker mortgage offering, there was no proper regard or concern for the impact on its customers. What followed was a litany of failings, where customers were wrongly denied their tracker entitlements, and others lost their tracker rates due to AIB's deficiencies in its provision of day-to-day mortgage services. In respect of many of its failings, AIB had opportunities to act in order to address those failings and prevent further breaches of customers' entitlements. AIB failed to take these opportunities. Underpinning AIB's failings over a prolonged period of time was a culture of failing to properly consider and recognize the rights of its customers and its obligations to them. AIB denied that there was a breach of contract and refused to include the 6,000 prevailing rate customer accounts, which had never availed, previously availed of a tracker rate, for almost two more years. In this period, AIB described this breach of contract as a service failure. It was only after significant intervention by the Central Bank that AIB finally agreed to include all remaining prevailing tracker rate customers with the tracker mortgage examination. Had AIB admitted these customers to the tracker mortgage examination at an earlier stage and applied the protections it afforded, in particular, stopped the harm protections, certain loss of ownerships of family homes caused by the prevailing rate could have been avoided. AIB's delay meant that the total amount of impacted customers, who had their entitlements denied, kept increasing from just over 500 customers in February 2009, to 6,523. And this really is the point I'm trying to make and the question I'm trying to ask you. Yes, I was. Well, that's what, yes, what would your question be? The question I'm trying to ask you is, do you not understand that when you make a mistake, as we all do, that you shout, "Stop," you say, "We are wrong," and you fix it at the earliest possible opportunity? You allowed this problem, and the directors here all nodded at every meeting, saying: Yes, keep going, keep going. You know, let's make these stupid legal arguments in an effort to avoid paying out EUR 300 million. This cost EUR 300 million at the end. It could have been sorted for a fraction of that, had you sorted it out from the very start. Treating customers fairly and making profits are not mutually exclusive. They are mutually inclusive, and I think that's something that you should be putting up on the wall of the boardroom in AIB. My last question, Chairman, on page 279 of the accounts, you have a note of a provision for EUR 20 million for FSPO provision. EUR 20 million is still in the accounts for FSPO provision on trackers. I mean, that's 2,000 customers at ten thousand euros each, if my arithmetic is correct. Are you in touch? Are you in discussions at the moment with the central bank in relation to any cohort of tracker customers that you have still not remedied, many years after the problem first arose? Thank you. Let me just start by, and then I'll maybe hand over to our legal counsel, and if necessary, clarification and provisions to the CFO. But you know, the tracker mortgage review now is complete, as you know, and I just responding to your point about putting customer first, and that need not necessarily, you know, and that can go along with success generally, you know, which is your well-made point. I would actually, Mr. Burgess, completely agree with you, actually. I can only say, and these you may accuse me of just simply these being words, but they are, I believe, actions that the current board collectively are taking to put absolutely customer first. As Colin Hunt mentioned in his address and update, the three strategic priorities for the group, the first one is absolutely putting the customer first. I can't change or really comment on what happened, you know, in previous years. We have apologized for the distress it's caused on a number of occasions. That's a fact. That doesn't change things, you know, apologies are apologies. But all I can do is look you firmly in the eye and in a positive way, and say that this board, which I chair, collectively and individually, are passionate, and I mean that, passionate about putting the customer first, and not just simply saying. We're aligned. We are aligned exactly with what you were saying in terms of that. And I accept these are words, but I hope if you read through the annual report, look at the sustainability report, we're doing a range of other things, actions that we're actually doing. So it, it's not just, you know, it's walking the talk here. And I take that as a personal responsibility as Chair of the Board. I cannot change what happened in the past. I cannot do that. We can certainly learn from it, and I believe we have taken le. There are always learnings in life for everybody, everybody, and that is what we're doing, and we are absolutely putting the customer first. So we are aligned in that and in terms of the sentiment and the passion that you clearly share for holding out and the, you know, the consumer viewpoint. So that, that would be my response there. Helen, on the specifics around the, the 20 that you were talking about, and perhaps, Helen, do you want to give some more color on that? Thank you, Chairman. The balance of that, that's the balance of the original provision, Mr. Burgess. It's not relating to any new FSPO case or any new engagement with the central bank. Do you have any follow-up, Mr. Burgess? Then we can. Yeah. I mean, there's EUR 20 million of a provision, so it's money that you expect or may expect to be paying out. I don't care whether it's a new issue or an old issue. Like, and this is the point that you've made, Jim. You said that, you know, you're taking a customer first. You're obviously not taking the customer first. You're, you are still in dispute with a lot of customers if you've a provision for EUR 20 million. And what I'm suggesting, as a sign of remorse on behalf of the bank for the damage that you've done, that you should be taking not just a legal approach, you know, can we get out of this? There are obviously lots of outstanding cases, and you should... I don't know if this tracker is still discussed at board meetings, but you should be looking at these cases and saying, "Be generous, resolve these cases," and I would like to see that next year, that there will be no provision for FSPO cases because you'll have positively resolved them all. I don't want to be coming back here and raising the issue again and finding that there's more cases that you have been told by the central bank to resolve. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Burgess, and we look forward to seeing you next year, and I hope we can not just deal with that matter, we can demonstrate to you how we are actually really delivering on the customer first agenda. So thank you for your, thank you for your well-made point. Thank you. Yes, sir, I'm struggling now because I was engaged with Mr. Burgess here in terms of the order, so please forgive me, shareholders, if I get the order wrong. Do you. Three behind Mr. Burgess. Just three behind Mr. Burgess first. Thank you. I think the company secretary is keeping me right in that. My name is Hugh McGuire. I would agree with. Good morning, Mr. McGuire. Good morning. I would agree with Brendan Burgess' comments, and I think he deserves accreditation for all the work that he's done for the customers of AIB. Secondly, I think that the directors and the shareholders and the auditors should stand up and be identified, or identify themselves to the meeting, because people at the back probably can't see them. Sorry, we will, we will try and make sure we do that. They did stand last time, but they waved their hand. I understand you couldn't see it. It's a good point you make, and we'll, of course, do that next time, Mr. McGuire, of course. Okay. I read in the Irish Times there on the fifteenth of February, that the High Court struck out an action, a financial action bid for EUR 1 million judgment against a couple who defaulted on a 2007 loan. The judge said that after lengthy delays in processing claims, cited as reason. The judge said sorry, it would appear that AIB cannot process debt collection in a reasonable period, and the courts appear to agree with that sentiment. What is the board's response? AIB said, demands for its additional Tier I, AT1, perpetual bond was strong, peaking at EUR 3.2 billion. This allowed the bank to cut interest rates on its offerings to investors from the original 7.625% to 7.125%. AIB are offering substantially lower interest rates on customers' deposits. On the twenty-seventh of April, the Irish Times advised that the Bankinter Avant entry into the Irish market. Bankinter Avant focus will initially be on deposits, an area where existing Irish banks have lagged behind European rivals in passing on European Central Bank rate hikes in recent years. The average rate on a demand deposit on current account, which make up over 90% of the bank's deposits base, stood at 4.13% at the end of February, a third of the Eurozone average, according to the central bank. The average yield rate for deposits that householders have agreed to lock away for a set period was 2.9% in February, compared to 3.17% for the wider Eurozone. Why are interest rates so low? That's it. Thank you. Okay, Mr. McGuire, thank you for your questions. I'll pass over on interest rates because that's the thrust, I think, of your question, really, about rates, and I'll hand over to Colin. But I'll just start, really, by saying we've been very focused on this at the board in terms of just trying to get the right balance and a very measured, rational approach to it. And Colin will just maybe go into that in a little bit more detail to try and answer your question. And you'll maybe touch also on the sort of new entrants bit in terms of Avant and Bankinter. Yeah. Yeah. As a management team, we, and as a board, we have a responsibility to manage both sides of the balance sheet. And when the European Central Bank began to increase interest rates in July 2022, we didn't respond on the borrowing side or indeed on the deposit side until later on that autumn. We were conscious of the fact the country was going through a cost of living challenge at that point in time, and we wanted to be measured and balanced in terms of how we responded. So we've seen a quite significant increase in official interest rates since that time, and now the markets expect that we may well be at the peak of the official interest rate cycle, with market expecting reductions in official interest rates in the second half of this year. But on our—for our own account, we passed on about 40% of the official increase in interest rates to our mortgage customers. So we didn't do anything like the full pass-through of interest rates there. And today, we have a standard variable rate on the mortgages of 3.75%. On the deposit side, we've been focused on introducing new products, given the fact that we were dealing with the reality of negative interest rates for a very, very extended period of time, going all the way back, I think, to 2014. We've been very focused on introducing new products, fixed terms with attractive interest rates. And we believe we do have those products on offer to our customers now. We've got a two-year fixed term deposit rate of 3%. We also have a regular saver deposit rate of 3%. I think that the attraction of this product is underlined by the fact that we have had a very, very strong growth in our deposit base over the course of 2023, and broad stability in that base, in the first month of 2024. Okay. Thank you. Mr. McGuire, d o avail, you know, of the offer to, you know, the customer center and others, and have a conversation and see if there is something which can help you, if that's the thing, but hopefully, that's all. Yes, sir. Oh, sorry, I think I've jumped the order, but do you mind, sir? Sorry, I'm trying my best to get the order right, but I'm not succeeding, I don't think. But anyway, if you do this, this gentleman first. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Gerry Coughlan. I'm an ordinary shareholder. Good morning. Thank you for the comprehensive response to my emailed questions earlier. I have about three questions here, actually. The first question is on the net credit impairment charge mentioned in the report. The report mentions AIB has booked a net credit impairment charge of EUR 172 million in 2023, up from EUR 7 million in 2022. That represents an increase of about 96%. Mainly due to lower commercial property valuations. The central bank has highlighted a disorderly price correction in Ireland's EUR 50 billion commercial real estate market. According to the report by estate agents Sherry FitzGerald, the commercial property market fell to just over EUR 2 billion, down from EUR 4.7 billion. The question is, is AIB concerned about the market slowdown and fall in the volume of transactions, primarily with commercial real estate? How much has AIB set aside to cover property losses associated with the commercial real estate? Mr. Coughlan, would you like us to, I know you've promised us three. Would you like us to just try and deal with them each in turn? Yeah. I just thought that might be helpful. So, what I thought I'd do is I'd hand over. I mean, you're really eagle-eyed, may I say, on the numbers and the provisioning, so it's really, you know, well done in seeing all these, the numbers and be able to quote the 172. I'll hand over to our CFO, who can give you a little bit more color, and maybe Colin, if necessary, on just CRE, your point about where is the commercial real estate market. Yeah. Donal. Yeah, thank you very much. I would say year-on-year, the main change in commercial real estate outlook was very much driven by the change in interest rates. We saw European interest rates change around 4% in a 12- to 18-month period, and that's obviously had a knock-on effect on valuations of commercial real estate. So when we look on our overall exposures, they're primarily in Dublin and prime office spaces. We're looking forward to what we think future valuations fluctuations could be, and the increase that you're seeing in the provision year-on-year is really the estimation of what we think future losses could be, if those valuations do indeed come to pass. I think overall, our outlook on the commercial real estate market was obviously driven by movements in rates in 2022 and 2023. As we come into 2024, though, the current expectations are that ECB rates are going to begin to reduce from June, and we do think that that will probably show the bottom of the commercial real estate market. And indeed, from there, our outlook is a little bit more positive in the outer years of 2024 and 2025. Okay. Yeah, just in terms of general provisioning policy, we're very conscious of the fact that the best banks are banks that take a forward-looking, conservative, and comprehensive approach to provisioning. And that's what we've done consistently as a management team. We ensure that we are very conservatively provisioned for expected developments in terms of markets. And as official interest rates went up, there's a direct and negative relationship correlation between official interest rates and the value of the underlying collateral. So we saw quite a mixed picture across the commercial real estate landscape in Ireland, in that the industrial real estate did well, residential real estate did well, and we saw weakness in terms of retail commercial real estate and office commercial real estate. But that was very much factored into how we were looking at our provisions, and I can confirm that we are very strongly provided for. Commercial real estate, of course, Colin, is not the, you know, it's only one part, isn't it. Yeah of our lending portfolio? No, it doesn't. The vast majority. The vast majority is, yeah. The vast bulk of our exposures in commercial real estate are here in the Republic of Ireland. Right. We have some exposures in Britain, and I can confirm to the meeting, we have no exposures in the United States. In America, for instance, yeah. Mr. Coughlan, that was a great question. You promised us two more. Yep. And then I'll hand over to another, and I'll pull u.- Number two question is. Yes. The Access to Cash Bill, which legislation currently drafted by the Department of Finance. This stems from a recommendation made by the Retail Banking Review, published last November 2022. It requires compliance with the regional criteria that sets the minimum number of ATM machines for 100,000 users on the proportion within 10 kilometers of a cash service point. In addition to protecting ATM availability, it's important that ATMs are properly maintained, that out of service experience of customers is kept to a minimum. Given that the banks or AIB, including all the other banks, have a responsibility to maintain the flow of cash through the economy and ensuring appropriate access to retail banking, will AIB be fully compliant with the planned Access to Cash Bill legislation, which is currently being drafted by the Department of Finance? Thank you once again. Let me take that, and Colin can come in if he feels the need to add anything. We've got, as I think Colin mentioned, 170 branches, the most branches, I think, in the Republic of retail banks. And all, I think, apart, there's about 96% or 98% of them all have some form of cash or availability there. So we are embracing this, Mr. Coughlan, actually. Cash still remains important in this digital age. And we also have, of course, our relationship with An Post, don't we? So there's about 900 of that. So the answer to your question is yes, we comply with the regulations, and we embrace them and recognize the importance of cash in that. Yeah, that's good. Question number 3. Three, the final question. This, Helen Dooley might respond to this as well. It's the loan scheme for retrofitting homes, actually. Is AIB finalizing the approval process on legal requirements so that homeowners can avail of these loans from, ranging from EUR 5,000 to EUR 70,000, pursuant to the retrofit scheme, making home energy upgrades more accessible and affordable. Because the rival bank, Permanent TSB, has become the first financial institution of this scheme to offer these retrofit loans, with rates ranging from 3.55%. Thanks for that. I'll hand that over to chief, because you know, we're passionate about the green agenda, and so, Colin, do you want to just respond to this? We'll make an announcement in relation to that when we have an announcement to make. This is core to our strategy for the next number of years. We are recognized not only as a leader in this space domestically, but as a leader internationally. And we are very much conscious of our responsibilities to finance the green transition domestically in our core market, and we would ensure that we have all the necessary products to accommodate that. Okay. Mr. Colin, thank you. These were three great questions, so thank you. I hope we've managed to respond to you in right manner. Right, I've got to do... You finally come to you, sir. Sorry about that. And don't worry, I've logged you in the waiting list. Yep. Yes, sir. Thank you, Chairman. Paul Wilson is my name, small shareholder. Good morning, Mr. Galvin. Just to echo. Thanks for being a shareholder. Thank you. Just to echo Mr. McGuire's point about interest rates, certainly from my perspective as a small shareholder, it'll be far more productive to have a decent interest rate on small deposits, current account, even. I noticed Mr. Galvin mentioned the 4% that the excess capital investments of the bank are obtaining from the ECB. I don't think it's unrealistic that the bank would aspire to offering a real interest rate of somewhere around 2% to depositors. I think that would be at least as much benefit as a dividend to the smaller shareholder. The specific question, though, relates to the auditors, and there have been several high-profile issues with the big companies internationally over the years, and I'm just a little bit concerned that there's an automatic rollover for PwC. Absolutely no aspersions at all on PwC as a company, but I am concerned that the board would roll over an auditor process without it being cleared, possibly by the AGM, but assessed visually and directly with us as shareholders. Mr. Wilson, can I respond by asking you a question? This rollover that you're referring to, are you referring to the change in auditors from. You know, we changed from Deloitte into PwC, or are you referring to just PwC being appointed for next year? Sorry to ask, respond to a question with a question. Well, we've been asked under motion. Is the second or third, number four, I think, to, to approve effectively that PwC. Effectively, PwC would be the auditor for next year. Well, the answer to that question is that the audit committee, under, the Chair, Sandy here, Mr. Wilson, they every year review the effectiveness of the auditors in rigor, because I attend that very meeting as an observer, to make sure that it's appropriate, you know, that they've got the right skills and, you know, they're independent, which is very important, too, et cetera. And so they go through all that. So it's not just a rollover in that sense. Can I mention the Irish company law? Under Irish company law, the auditors are automatically reappointed every year without the need for a resolution. But AIB actually does table a resolution so that shareholders do have... It's an advisory resolution, but one that shareholders do have the opinions of shareholders and would be taken into account in that. But under Irish company law, the appointment is renewed automatically. But thanks, yeah. But thanks for your point, and it will add, I'm sure the auditors listening very clearly. Yes, sir, and we've got. And interest rates, the chief exec heard what you were saying. Is there anything you'd like to add? Yeah, I just refer you to the answer I gave some moments ago. Yeah. But we do have products out there now with 3% rates. The two-year saver, the regular saver, we've got 2.5% rates for one year at fixed term deposits as well. You're keeping all that under review? It's kept under ongoing review, and it needs to be contextualized in terms of the rate that we're charging our borrowers as well. Okay. And next question, I think there was 2 up this end, and you're still on the queue. Sorry, but I'm trying to keep it in the right order. Yes, sir. Oh, and, and then you, sir. Yeah. Hello. Mr. Chairman, my name is Kieran Skerritt. I'm proxy for Clafferty, was the name. I'm ex manager of the EBS in Eyre Square, Galway. Now, I know that you said you want to keep the agenda to what's on here today, but I think it's important that the shareholders should know a couple of things, you know, in relation to my own situation, which I don't want to go on about, but I was dismissed in 2010 from Galway office. And I thought I was on my own. I didn't do anything wrong or anything like that, but I was just. And my wife has suffered greatly since then. However, I discovered that Mr. Senator McDowell was in negotiations with yourself for 18 agents that had all their business taken from them by the company, AIB. The stories that came out of that situation, I think you're aware of it, Mr. Hunt. The stories that came out of that meeting, I sat in all the meetings with Mr. McDowell, and the stories were shocking. Gut-wrenching, really, to be honest with you. My concern for the shareholders here, that this information would get out there, and we could have a situation like the Bates situation in the U.K. That would be my big concern. That's all I want to say. So, Mr. Skerritt, thank you for that. There's not really a question there, so it's just to. I will, I will speak to Conor, as you suggested earlier on, but I needed to get that out there. Okay. You know, it's very important. Thank you very much. I'm sorry to hear about your wife's situation as well. Yes, I just need to wait. You're on the queue. Please don't worry. Right, and there's this gentleman over here, and then it's this gentleman, and then it's you. Yes, sir. Good morning, Chairman. My name is Charles Purcell. I'm a retired accountant of AIB Financial Control. Good morning to you. My question to the Chair is: I would like to ask the CFO, how robust are the accounting systems of the bank? Staff members or a member who are found to have manipulated records, how are they dealt with? And how, if they are still in employment, does that fit the criteria of the central bank? Now, I don't want to go into any specific details, but, I would like to actually meet, after the meeting, I would like to meet the chair of the audit committee. Thank you. Well, thank you, first. I'll get the CFO to just respond to your specific point, and I'm sure Sandy, who's sitting here, I'll connect you. She'll be delighted to speak to you afterwards, I'm sure. Yes, absolutely. No, I'm happy to talk to you after the meeting as well. Obviously, you know, the reporting that we have is very comprehensive, twofold, very much focused on regulatory reporting and obviously financial reporting as well, where we work very closely with our external auditors, PwC. I will say that all of the year-end deliberations around our financial results have all been passed very satisfactorily, which is why the board are happy to present the final results here today. And so that's the high-level answer, but very happy to meet with you later. Yep, and I am actually a chartered accountant by background, too, and I can assure you there's a real degree of rigor around the financial controls and the financial systems and Sandy and the audit committee. So do take that up after the meeting with Sandy and indeed, Donal, I'm sure will be happy to chat further. Thank you very much for your question. Right, I'm now heading over to you, sir. I've forgotten your name, but I do remember your wonderful story. You've been with the bank since the fifty. That's right. That's right. The mic? Here it's coming. Yes, I'm a member. I joined when I was 16, over 70 years ago, and at that time, like, banking was different. And there's a few things just maybe responsible for some of this. I think, number one, they closed too many branches because the people knew everybody before that, and there was what's called honesty. Like, honesty is a very scarce word because you have all the people, well-educated people, mostly, who the other people pays their way. Like, my wife is from County Cavan. They pay the bills there. It's paid that day. It's not left till then. And I learned the hard way back on them times. My parents died when I was only young, and 16, I had to take over a post office and a shop and land and plow the fields, leave college, plow the fields, and out and done it. And what you learned that honesty was the best policy. And another thing people forgot, and you ask people, I have 9 honors in my leaving, or I have 12 honors in my leaving. You ask them to make up the price of 2 apples and orange in a pair without a calculator, they can't do it. They're into phones all the time. There's false information, what is happening now. So we don't blame. I'm not blaming. First of all, I should have welcomed Mr. Hunt, who I know a lot about him, and he's a very decent, good man. He's gonna take over. But I give him a few words of warning, and that is to look into things better. Things are not the same as they seem to be. So like the old way, two on one makes three, and three you, from two, you cannot take. That's the very first thing I was taught by my father. I never forgot it. He took out a couple of halfpennies, and he put them down, and he said, he had two, and then he took one away, and he said, "Three from two, you cannot take." You see, so what is happening is this falsification. We have this TikTok. We have all these things happening now, and people are being bamboozled. I don't blame the staff up there. They're doing their best. But what has happened, they'll have to look into it better because I know of people who bought houses the second time and people, developers who sold the same houses three times, went out foreign and come back again and got loans. And falsification, you see, honesty is a very scarce word, and this is what is happening at the present time. And it's gonna happen again if people do not look into it, because they get things done out, and people believe what they see, and they will talk this up. Like when we had more branches, the people knew everybody. I had an uncle, the bank manager up in Donegal. He was being made a director, but he wouldn't leave it because the people were so honest. He knew Johnny Smith and Patty Kelly. He went into their houses and had the tea with them. He gave them loans, people who needed a loan. Yep. He never was let down by any one of these people. So that's what you have to buy. People, falsification is one of the things that's happening at the present time, and that is what has happened. You'll have to look into things in different ways. It's no use in saying this or that or the other. Or if things like that happens, it'll ruin any bank. It'll ruin the people who are trying to do a good job in the bank. Okay. So that is going back to the honesty, the thing- Thank you. the 2 and 1 makes 3, all this. This all adds up. You know what I mean? Nope. Thank you. Falsification of figures is a thing that's done, and it's made look in such a way. Nope. And they will get people, and they'll be selling the house, same, same houses and, and buying them over in Spain, and they had been sold three times. There was one man kidnapped, and down in the. Okay. west of Ireland, and someone had put him in prison, imprisoned him. He had gold, 18-carat gold door-knockers on the door, and, like, nothing in the house. That was his mansion. He had a Rolls-Royce outside the house. Okay, thank you. People believe. I was told when I was young, "Believe very little of what you hear, and only half of what you see." People are forgetting. Parents aren't teaching the people, and this is what you have today. So as I said, there's a job to do now, and we'll all be watching you. I'm not complaining about anybody. Okay. 'Cause if I made a mistake, it would have been my own, and thank God, I was lucky, and in my life. There's only the two things you have to do: If you work hard and you're honest, you'll get on in this world. Okay. You can look anybody straight in the face and walk up and down any street. So as I said again, thanks. Sorry for holding you all up. No, no, no. Thank you. This is important. Like, people today are on phones. Last week, I would happen to be in a place. I was going to a particular mass. Now, it's three weeks ago. My apologies. And I've seen this lady coming, and down the road, about 80 miles an hour, splashes going up in the air. I got my car out of where it was. I had it up on a path, and I moved it in, into where there was bushes. She hit where I had been. She was on the phone, texting. Texting. The phone up on the dashboard, hit the wall, hit where I was. She'd have killed herself and killed myself. Yep. and went on, and the horn blown and the oil popping out of the car. So this is what we have today. We have TikTok- Okay. We have the Kinahans and different people coming along. Sir, we want to. Look, I. Thank you. you. Thank you very much. Sorry to cut you short. I'm not meaning to do that. Thank you. I hope you don't think I'm implying. I've just got to keep this thing. I'm sure Mr. Hunt and myself will be delighted to talk to you afterwards. Okay. because it's wonderful, and you raised some excellent, wise words. So thank you. I just have to move the meeting on now. Thank you very much. Thank you for the. I understand. Right, sir. It was you, and then, there's one final question up there, and then we, we'll be drawing things to a. [crosstalk] Did I give you a letter? No, not at all. Could I ask you what your name is, sir? Sorry, I'm Billy Johnston from Donegal. Oh, good. Good morning, still. Good morning, Mr. Johnston. We come up this morning. All right, good. Thank you. Thank you for making the trip, Mr. Johnston. You have a question, Mr. Johnston? My first request is, I'm here for your help. for the help from Mr. Hunt and yourself. My name is Billy Johnston. I'm from Donegal Town. I'm here with my wife, Audrey. Good morning. Good morning to you. I had the privilege of being appointed an EBS agent in Donegal, Donegal Town in 1993, and I was sadly terminated by a previous employee of EBS, Mr. Des Fitzgerald. I'm a colleague of Kieran in the corner here, who was terminated in Galway. I was in. I was told by Mr. Fitzgerald, who was the CEO of EBS at the time, that he had to close 20 branches in Ireland, and I sadly was picked as one of them. He terminated my agency. I spent 25 years of my life. I opened the branch. He closed it. He told me he was closing it because he was instructed from head office that they had to reduce the overheads and reduce the number of branches. Sadly, the regional manager came to me on the sixth of January, 2017, and I handed her the keys of my office. I was told the office were being closed. I handed her the keys after 25 years. She thanked me very much, and I went home. Now, about a week later, another agent was appointed at my branch. I was of the impression the branch was being closed. My staff that I employed all those years were taken over by another agent, took over my 25 years work, and from 2017 until a few weeks ago, I've been fighting for justice for myself, and I know that there's another agents as well. We were looking for compensation. We were told by Mr. Fitzgerald there was no money to be paid out, and I was told to go home. Now, we had a mediation process there back where Mr. Michael McDowell met us all, and we went through all our stories, and at the end of the stories, he came up with an idea of compensation. Now, it may not have been called compensation, but in my instance, I was offered so much off my commercial loan, which I had to take out on the building. I spent EUR 450,000 in the building in Donegal Town, my own building, to make it into EBS standards, right? This guy from Dublin walked into my office, took my staff and my 25 years work, and I was looking for compensation. So Mr. McDowell came up with an agreement which we thought was going to be fair for everybody. Now, it worked out that I was getting EUR 400,000 taken off my commercial mortgage, which had gone up and up and up because I was terminated, and I couldn't pay capital back. So I'm 75 years of age. I'd love to get on with my life. This offer was given to me of EUR 400,000 off a commercial loan, and at the time, I had no idea how much I owed because I had got letters saying I was EUR 150,000 in arrears and EUR 50,000 of penalties. So I had no idea what the figure was, but it worked out that the figure was EUR 860,000. I don't mind telling everybody, and there was EUR 400,000 coming off it. I was devastated to hear the figure, but Mr. McDowell said the negotiations of mediation was over, and I was told. I hate using the expression, there was a gun put to my head that if I didn't accept the EUR 400,000 by 5:00 P.M. the next Friday, it would be withdrawn. I wasn't allowed to, I wasn't allowed to argue my point. A good friend of mine, Colm Gannon, took up my case up, and only last week, a gentleman I don't know, I think it's Peter, Peter Butler. Peter Butler is the CEO, I think, of EBS now. He kindly sent me an email that he was prepared to meet me personally and Kieran, here in the corner, and a number of others, to meet us personally, face-to-face, to discuss my predicament. Now, I was delighted that somebody would meet me face-to-face because nobody else from EBS or AIB spoke to me personally about my problem. Now, I was delighted he was going to meet us. I think there's maybe 4 or 5 of us that haven't been sorted properly, and this is why I need your help. I want to get sorted. I want an end of this debt that I have, and all we have is a pension. Now, I was told I was going to be treated, treated fairly, and I know all the lads. I know all the 16 or 18 lads that were all terminated. I know them all. We've been together now for 10 years, trying to get ourselves compensated. I was told to sign this agreement by 5:00 P.M. on the next Friday and bring the stuff into my solicitor and get it witnessed, which I did. I wasn't allowed to argue the balance or anything, but the thing that really annoyed me was, I know all the agents that were terminated, and I'm all over Ireland. I know them all. I know one of them had four properties. He owed about EUR 800,000, seven or eight hundred thousand. It was all written off, and he got his properties back. When I heard that, I wondered, what did I do wrong? I know some of the agents were given a cash payment and their loans paid off. I know there were some agents got cash payments and didn't have loans. Would somebody. Would you, sir, Mr. Chairman, would you see what you can do to resolve my problem? Right. But, Now, Mr. Butler is meeting me next week and a few of my colleagues who have not been satisfied. He said he'd be delighted to meet us face-to-face, which is great, but he says, "Realize we'll have the meeting, but what's being decided will not be changed." That's what he told us in an email. So what's the point of meeting him? He's going to do nothing for us. I'm pleading with you now, and I have colleagues who are not here. Please help. Mr. Johnston, thank you. You've made, you know. Everybody has listened to your part. Sorry. Yes, sir. I left a letter. You have. In the mail. I'm pleading with you to please read it. Sorry. Let me get on with my life. Well, Mr. Johnson, what we will do, I was wanting to say thank you. You've made, you know, you've made your point with passion and emotion, I could tell. Thank you for that, and Mrs. Johnson as well, for attending. You've sent this letter; it is here. You've given it to the chief exec and myself, so we will. You asked, will we read that letter? The answer, very clearly, is yes. The one point. Sorry to interrupt. Yeah. The one point that I don't think it's been made already, but knowing all the people that have been hurt, that were sacked, were terminated all over Ireland, some of them have died. Some of them have had cancer. Some of them have all sorts of things with them. I've had cancer. Now, jeez, I've lost my point. Mr. Johnston, I've said that we will read your letter. Point. And we will have to respond to it. One of my points, but the main point is, the EBS that I opened up in Donegal Town, I borrowed EUR 450,000 or something like that. Yes. to modernize the place. Yep. I made two shops into one office. That's fine. Now, the office is still open today. It's my branch. I'm a customer in it. The branch is still open today. I was told it was being closed, but it was given to me, Mr. Fitzgerald. I hate using the word buddy. No, listen, thank you. Look, I thank you. I said, what we will do. Thank you for. Listen, we will., you've given us this letter. We will certainly read it, and we will respond to that, that letter. That's, you, that's. You've asked us to do that, and we will do that. Thank you, sir. Right, I need to start, I mean, I need to. Yeah, can I just ask, is it Mr. Skerritt? Yes. No, sorry? Yes. Richard Hynds is. Oh, sorry. Yeah, sorry. Richard Hynds is my name. I'm a customer of AIB for 42 years. I was invited in to join Belfry 5 and Belfry 6. I lost all my money. I still owe money to AIB. I'm paying them back. I haven't got any, any redress. I never heard the word Loan-to-Value covenant till 10 years after I bought into it. The point I'm making, if you go to your financial advisor, AIB, if you go to your mechanic, you go to your doctor, you have to trust them. They know more about finance, they know more about medicine than you or I do. I trusted AIB. I had a good working relationship with them, and now I'm getting nothing. I'm being left in the lurch. Can that be right? Like, you have compensated a good few people in the five and six, and the two, three, and four Belfry. There's about 150 people that haven't been paid anything. Apologies, I didn't quite catch your name, just. Richard, Richard Hynds. Mr. Hyde, sorry. Sorry. Thank you for the point. Sorry. Look, you know, really, I can't add more really to what the company secretary said really at the top of the meeting, unless, I mean, unless you have anything you wanted to add to it. I mean, you know, we've got a pro. I mean, you know, I'm wondering, the one point, can it be right in honest business dealing not to treat one group differently? Oh, yeah. Well, sorry, the point that was made, and I don't want to get into the detail, but we set out as a board, you know, a process and a methodology, you know, which was... And we spent a long, long time in that, and we certainly, and I accept you'll say it might, it's not fair to you or whatever, but it was certainly created to try and be as fair and in a consistent manner, you know. And as the company secretary said at the beginning of the meeting, you know, five and six, there was a different risk disclosure there than in the case of, for instance, two to four. But do you want to come in the follow up? Yeah. Thank you, Chair. Yes, so as we outlined, Mr. Hyde, in your question that you submitted, Belfry 2-4 did receive all of their money back because we felt the risk was not adequately described, whereas for Belfry 5 and 6, was very clearly described as high risk, and the loan-to-value covenant was described in the prospectus. We are, as the chairman just said, we have a customer treatment strategy, which looks at each investor on a case-by-case basis, and we look at the documentation we hold, prior investment experience, financial position, to see whether their investment objectives were aligned with Belfry. Where that test is failed, the customer has received. The investor has received a refund, and where an investor believes they have information that we don't have, all investors were able to submit that information to us, and we re-reassessed it as part of an internal reassessment, or investors had six months to bring an appeal. So we believe that was a fair and transparent process for investors. Running back to the beginning, would you think it's fair for ordinary people, not accountants, ordinary people to go into the bank? to say, "Oh, why didn't you read the print? At one, one little, there's only one little word on that thing. This is a high-risk investment." No man, no bank manager told me anything about a loan-to-value covenant, and in case people don't know what that is, if it'll drop below 10 or 15%, you've lost all. Just like going back to Paddy Power with your jockey falling off. Like, they haven't, they haven't cleared, they didn't clear. The people that bought into Belfry weren't high-ranking accountants. They weren't like you who understand money and banking. They were ordinary people that either had money in the bank, a lot were not young, or they were good like me to give money to. But there was no clear layman's terms. This is a loan-to-value covenant. You know what that means. If it will drop 10 or 15%, you lose all, the rule of engagement. But you can come back after it. Oh, hold, hold on a minute. In a tiny one little. Can you tell me how clear that little thing on the prospectus and how clear it was that the people selling it said, "This is really, really like going mining in Angola. The chance you can lose all, like a roulette table." They did not. They clearly did not, for ordinary people. And like the people that are going today to buy a mortgage anywhere in Ireland, to an AIB people, they have to trust the people selling. You know, the advisor will know more about money, and he's clear, he or she will clearly tell them, "You're not good for this mortgage," blady, blady, blah. Now, they mightn't be right all the time, but they know more about it. But for one little wording, you can walk away in not giving any address. We all would say: Why don't you buy glasses and read the little, tiny print? Okay, but it wasn't good enough to tell people that this is a high-risk investment on one little, tiny, very, very tiny, high-risk wording. All right? Thank you for your point, Mr. Hyde. But I made. Do you feel it's right to leave people not paid? Mr. Hyde, we've said. I said we put a process in place, a methodology in place. But you're happy with, you're happy with the methodology? Yes, we are content with the methodology, yes, and the consistent application of that methodology. Yes, is the answer to that. Thank you. Right. I've got one more question, and then I, we've still got an EGM, ladies and gentlemen, to deal with as well. So, but I wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to speak to questions on matters relating to the agenda. Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, you never answered my question. It appears that AIB cannot process debt collection in a reasonable period, and the courts appear to agree. Number two, Mr. Hunt referred to the interest rates paid by AIB. AIB offered a rate on borrowings that they had of EUR 3.2 billion at 7.125%. Yet they're offering customers, you know, 0.25% and maybe up to 3% on, if you fix the amount of money that you're going to put aside for two years or one year. In relation to the resolutions, I just have a concern that if you go to resolutions 15, 16, for example, it states that for a period of 18 months from the date of the annual general meeting, but surely it should state the 2024 AGM. Could be any general meeting, so it could be infinite, go on forever. Okay, I'll leave that. Thank you. I'll leave the company secretary to answer that, but I'll get Donal to answer the, your first point. Yeah. Yeah, I would say typically on deposits, provided they're under EUR 100,000, they fall under the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, the Central Bank of Ireland, so they're very, very, very safe and secure. The instrument that you're referring to was a wholesale equity instrument that was sold primarily into European investors. So, it had various mechanisms whereby it can be written down in its entirety, so it's a very different risk profile attached to it. So, I think it's easier, or I would say, more straightforward to look at the different deposit rates available, you know, for the main 6-month, 1-year, 2-year, as being more comparable, I think. Okay, and then you were going to come back on that? The question on the annual general meeting, it's actually a defined term in the document as being the meeting being held today. So it is, your query is valid, but it's actually addressed in the document, in the notice of the meeting. [Inaudible] So it's the first, so it's the first of all the resolutions? No, it's just the reference to an annual general meeting is to the meeting, this meeting that we're having right now. It then defines it. It defines it. In the glossary. Defined in the document, so. Yeah. Okay, great. I'm going to then. Collection. Oh, Helen? That's a case we are familiar with, Mr. O'Brien. AIB is no longer involved in that case. Okay. Right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your questions. We now are going to move on. The polls, as I say, will come on at-- we will deal with the polling after the EGM. If you recall, I said that at the beginning and the top of the meeting.