NO EGGS, just a few sparks and Soviet-style majorities to re-elect the board – no wonder Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) executives were looking relieved at the end of the company’s annual general meeting.

In contrast to the stuffy suits dominating AIB’s podium earlier this week, IL&P’s proceedings were marshalled capably in a solo performance by a leather-jacketed Gillian Bowler, though the chairwoman’s trademark sunglasses were strangely missing under the bright lights of the RDS.

The only reference to the missiles fired at AIB directors came from 85-year-old John O’Leary, who asked the chairwoman: “How would you like your eggs?”

“When you pointed out the emergency exits at the start of the meeting I was going to suggest you lead the way,” he quipped.

Ms Bowler had a line ready about having buttered bread and rashers to keep the egg company, but Mr O’Leary had already recanted. In view of her robust performance, the chairwoman should be given 12 months to prove herself, he felt.

It was a telling moment in a meeting that went the board’s way the longer it lasted. This was yet another agm peopled mostly by older people who have seen their investments decimated by the collapse in the share price of Irish financials but in this case few wanted to dwell on their personal losses.

There was anger, certainly, but little coherence among the dissenters. Shareholder Patrick O’Rourke wanted Ms Bowler to resign over the short-term deposits totalling €7.5 billion IL&P made into Anglo Irish Bank last September. Ms Bowler, who had earlier described the loans as shocking and disappointing, repeated that she did not know about the loans at the time.

The easiest thing to do is to walk away from a problem but that would leave no one left to do the job, Ms Bowler opined. “I don’t quit. I’m a fighter.”

Jimmy Carr wanted the board to forgo their remuneration as a show of solidarity to those who had been badly burned by the collapse of the company’s share.

Not possible, she said, because international investors would view this negatively. “If you say there are to be no payments for this work it makes it look as though the company is on its knees.”

Several shareholders criticised non-executive directors’ remuneration and one suggested that the chairwoman was paid more than Barrack Obama.

Another singled out director Liam O’Reilly for criticism, claiming the former financial regulator was a “toxic director” who “sat on his hands” for five years before the present crisis.

Ms Bowler said that Mr O’Reilly had been a distinguished public servant all his life and was an appropriate choice for the board.

Tom Kelly, a banker for 35 years, cried shame on the board for lending money it didn’t have and handing out 100 per cent mortgages.

Veteran publisher John Mulcahy, who described himself as a substantial shareholder in the company, took to the podium to deliver his attack on Ms Bowler.

Under her chairmanship, he said, the model of lending pursued by IL&P had gone from “established caution to riotous irresponsibility”. This included a loan of €92 million to some “crazy Icelandic banks when even the dogs on the street knew they were being funded by hot Russian money”.

Mr Mulcahy continued his tirade against the “cushy cabal” of management, but garnered as many boos as bursts of applause.

By then, lunchtime had passed and stomachs were rumbling.

The meeting wrapped up with 98 per cent-plus votes in favour of the re-election of the board.