As it ducks and weaves among the blows thrown by the setting up of the DIRT inquiry and the Haughey revelations, AIB must have taken great pleasure in announcing a set of annual results which showed the group advancing on all fronts and returning pre-tax profits of £826 million (€1.05 billion) making it the first domestic company to break through the billion euro barrier.

Mind you, for the long-suffering Irish banking public, there was another interesting figure in the accounts. At a time when all the financial institutions are bleating about tighter margins, group margins in Ireland fell only 0.15 of a percentage point and still stand at 4.42 per cent - a figure many of AIB's European rivals, or even its own US division would regard jealously, to say nothing of the customers who are effectively getting nothing for deposits while still pay double-figure interest on some borrowings.