 Thank you very much, Chairman. It's a pleasure and honor to be here together with my colleague Jonathan Taylor, the vice president, who is responsible, among other things, for the business in Ireland, and I can say very successfully, so that completes my speech. Thank you very much. I'm also very happy to be here. Tati is here, an old colleague from the bank. Ten years ago, he left Luxembourg, has not come back since, which is a big mistake, and I hope this will today be the beginning of the correction of that mistake. It's wonderful to be here and to share some thoughts with you on the recent positive developments in the European economy and the role we, the European Union Bank, can play to make it robust. I've been a frequent visitor to Ireland in my current capacity, but also in my old one, former one. Now reassuring of our growing engagement to finance long-term investments, and I have witnessed the incredible change through which this country has been going in the past. Ireland has faced significant challenges, but also has made valiant efforts to overcome them, bringing to a positive economic turnaround the country. This was confirmed and recognized when exiting from the international bailout program, and that was definitely not an easy task. Ireland also hosted a very successful EU presidency during the first semester of 2013, when important decisions were taken to generate jobs, create stability, and boost growth. The return to the international bond markets is a remarkable success for the country, but also for Europe, in tackling its fiscal and banking crises. And it is a very great encouragement for other countries who still have this decisive step ahead. In the same period, the EU Bank was called by its shareholders, the EU Member States, by the way, not the Commission, it's the Member States of the European Union who are our bosses. To increase its lending to support these efforts across all countries, but with focus on, let's say, burning issues. I will mention our engagement shortly. I'd like to take this opportunity to reflect in our debate later on the importance of looking forward. And the need to prepare Europe to compete at a global scale in the years to come. Ireland has key strengths that can act as a model for reform elsewhere in the European Union. However, the feeble signs of recovery we are witnessing, although encouraging, need to be strengthened. And we have to work together and solidify them. There are still too many gaps not only in Ireland, but across Europe that continue to hinder growth. The Irish government has asked the EIB to continue the proactive approach and address these problems together. The Bank brings not only cross-sectorial and financial expertise, but also widespread experience. Let me say a few words on the engagement in Ireland. To better understand the unique role and perspectives of the European Investment Bank, please allow me to first say a few words, however, who we are. And what we do here in Ireland and across Europe. Because probably the European Investment Bank is still the biggest remaining undetected treasure of the European integration process. That place is completely unknown. And Ireland has improved a lot over the last couple of years. But in my own country, the Bank for instance is rather unknown. If I tell people that we are as big as the German promotional bank, the KFW, which might serve a little bit as a model for a similar setup here in Ireland one day. If I tell people in my own country that the European Investment Bank is two and a half the size of the World Bank, World Bank Group, they simply don't know that. They are not aware that politicians on the European level have an instrument in their hand that can be used in order to promote the objectives of the Union and the objectives of the European Councils. And this is coming more and more to the fore. Many people have heard about specific examples of our recent engagement across Ireland, but few know about our broad involvement and unique features. The bank was created by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 as Europe's long-term lending institution. As I said, we are directly owned by the 28 member states, including Ireland and other world's largest multilateral borrower and lending institution. Last year we provided more than 75 billion euro for investment in key infrastructure, innovation and SMBs, with 90% of this being in Europe. 90% is a decision of the Board of Governors, which is practically the board of the finance ministers and looks pretty much like an ecofin meeting. The AIB borrows funds on capital markets and passes on the benefit of our AAA rating for long-term investment in a range of projects, public and private, with a balance of priority sectors agreed by our shareholders and reflecting EU priorities. The EU Bank is not a new player supporting Irish infrastructure. It has been active in Ireland since its accession to the European Economic Community in 1973. Since then, the Bank has provided nearly 13 billion euro for 403 projects across the country. Historic projects like Money Point, Power Station come to my mind, but also more recently investment in education and infrastructure are well known. 105 new and upgraded schools, Terminal 2, the bus is here, the East-West Interconnector, an investment at Trinity, UCD and Limerick universities. Over the last five years, AIB lending has provided more than 3 billion euro of support for crucial investment in Irish infrastructure and support for small companies. Especially during 2013, the EU Bank stepped up its lending activity in Ireland by more than a third and provided 680 million euro in long-term, low-cost loans to support key infrastructure and private sector investment across the country. This represented a 35% increase from 2012 and reflects our broader engagement across key sectors. Innovation, schools, entire education, energy, transport, telecommunications and not least small businesses in Ireland. We recognize the difference in the economic challenges and the investment priorities of the various parts of Europe. The economic cycles are far from being perfectly integrated. We also see that lessons can be shared to prevent past mistakes and save generations. Returning to Ireland's strengths, please allow me to make a few observations. Competitiveness remains a challenge across Europe and Ireland has clear assets that can act as a benchmark for others. Simply speaking, Ireland benefits from economic attributes that other countries in Europe would be keen to have and here I'm thinking of an open and dynamic economy that benefits from global trade, an established presence of foreign investors in growth sectors and a competitive service sector. Despite the negative implications of the financial crisis, Ireland has proudly regained its standing as an extremely pro-business environment that has just been recognized by Forbes as the best country to do business in worldwide. English is spoken worldwide, although we all contribute to ruin that language, in particular in countries like mine. And the Irish diaspora provides a ready-made business network around the world. Your highly educated workforce, corporate tax rate, investor protection and personal freedoms all score highly on global rankings. Therefore, it is not surprising why Ireland is placed particularly well on the global scales of business friendliness, let alone the global perception of the friendliness of Irish people which I witnessed in the pub here last night. Ireland has also shown true strength during recent challenging times. As I already mentioned, Ireland fully implemented the EU-IMF Economic Adjustment Program and last December successfully left the program being the first and so far the only program country to exit. Despite tough reforms, pay cuts, salary levies and depressed house prices, the solidarity and support of your people made it possible, proving that a quick although painful medicine can be very effective. Looking ahead, business confidence is slowly improving, employment is expanding and GDP growth projections are positive. There is a shared feeling across Europe as well as here in Ireland that we must not repeat past mistakes. This is why we are witnessing stronger financial requirements and calls for banking regulation, trying to set the scene for greater economic diversity, further integration and reduced reliance on the single sector. These are just a couple of examples high on the agenda of the ecofin and in the broader debate in the context of the imminent European elections. The current political and economic discussions reflect a clear need for economic stability after turbulent years and desire to address the feeling of uncertainty that remains, especially but not only in the periphery countries of the European Union. For this endeavour to be successful, all economic and political players need to work closely and create the institutional setting and mobilize financial resources to best unlock sustainable growth. Enabling sustainable economic growth requires targeted investment, let's call it smart investment, that will continually improve productivity. And there we have my main concern presently. Overall investment in many parts of Europe remains well below pre-crisis level. In many fields economic growth can only take place once there has been an acceptance of the existence of chronic under-investment in three key areas. One, skills. Essential for economic growth, skills need to be reinforced in the years ahead through improved education and training. Two, companies, both corporates and SMEs need to continually innovate to exploit new opportunities and keep ahead of the global competition. And three, infrastructure that influences the broader business environment must contribute to economic and social needs. All these require investment and a long-term focus on where Europe sees itself a generation ahead. I will address each of them in turn. Ireland is recognized worldwide for its dynamic, ambitious and high-quality workforce. Companies that are world leaders in highly specialized sectors choose Ireland precisely because skills necessary for the latest technology, pharmaceutical or medical manufacturing or research operation can be found. The Eubank recognizes the need to support investment in education and vocational training at all levels. In recent years we have supported the Irish government's significant investment in schools, working with the Department of Education and Skills to provide additional school places and improve education facilities across the country. I already mentioned that some 105 schools benefited from nearly 400 million Euro of EIB support in the last three years. By the way, this was a fascinating product we brought to the markets and which we developed together. I say it is so simple to say look at the only part of Europe that is really growing in population because of the birth rate. Look at the educational needs that go along with that. Look at the sometimes dismal situation of the school buildings around the country, not only this country but also here. And then look at the need to get people employed in SMEs around the country, on the countryside. So what is better than simply saying okay, let's refurbish a couple of hundred schools here with local craftsmen with a lump sum loan from the European bank to Ireland in order to accomplish that, that brings you an improvement in the educational situation as well as an improvement of the employment situation in the villages and in small towns across the country, not just in the capital. It's a wonderful project. At the university level we have finance campus development projects and investment in improved teaching and research facilities at University College in Dublin, Trinity and most recently in December, Limerick University. I must say that the University of Limerick has an ambitious development plan, 224 million Euro, which we support with a loan of 100 million. This is the best way to ensure that future generation of students will benefit from choice and opportunity and will be brought up with highest available technology for research and development, student support and teaching, sports and other facilities. The Irish government identified education as a priority sector in the government spending plan until 2015. This firm commitment sets the benchmark for other countries in Europe and the U-Bank sense ready to offer all necessary support. Later this year we expect to announce a significant new engagement, some probably 110 million Euro to support investment by the Dublin Institute of Technology and urban redevelopment very close to here at Grange Gorman. But let's be clear. The figures for research development and education in Europe or innovation in the broader sense are completely insufficient. We have a situation that in the international comparison for the last 10 years, the average share of GDP that goes into educational research and development is something like 1.9% in the European average it is something like 2.9% in the United States and 3.3% in Korea and Japan. Over a period of 10 years that has an impact and if we believe that we can remain the world number one technology provider from machinery to pharmaceuticals, from biochemicals to electronics where we have lost the battle anyway then we are making a very, very big mistake. So what we are doing here is just a small contribution but research, development, education in Europe must be given a huge boost in the next couple of years otherwise our children cannot live on the assumption that it can be taken for granted that their living standards will be better than the kids in ASEAN or other countries. Long-term unemployment for an entire generation of young Europeans is a threat to the ideals on which Europe was founded and there is no simple solution to sometimes a structural problem. Here in Ireland, youth unemployment reaches nearly 29% and this does not reflect the thousands of young people who have sought their fortunes abroad. Clearly, leaving the country does not solve the problem in substance. The IB started financing programs to ensure vocational training is just as needed as high-end research skills. Furthermore, financing small companies who create most of the jobs for the young people are a key priority for the EIB and we have ensured that intermediary Irish banks pass the funding benefit to the final beneficiary. Across Europe, the losses of jobs for young people could be observed at 85% in SMEs and only 15% in the public sector or in big companies. Therefore, it makes particularly sense to concentrate on SMEs also when it comes to the fight against youth unemployment. I mentioned several times the importance of selective investment or smart investment in infrastructure and we have recognized the clear focus of the Irish national infrastructure stimulus plan to increase both growth and employment. No country in Europe can afford waste to waste limited public resources on projects that, although creating jobs during construction, fail to provide real long-term benefits. Ireland has prioritized very well spending both during and after the economic adjustment program and it is clearly a success story. With its counter-cyclical role, the European Investment Bank was more than ever present in these times but there is still plenty of work to be done. Key sectors remain priority to ensure future growth. One, investment in schools to cater for demographic change and improve dated and worn facilities has been the focus and will remain to be so. Second, the water sector under investment in dated pipes and water treatment facilities as well as unexpected frozen pipes three years ago has required immediate investment. Introducing water charges for the first time is probably never a very popular policy however improvements are already being seen. The EIB will continue to support long-term investment in the water sector in Ireland. In the light of recent climate adversities we also stand ready to provide immediate support to repair key water infrastructure damages after the recent floods and heavy rains. Only two or three days after the worst floods this winter we were in contact with the T-shock and by the way also with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in order to offer our help. We have experience in that, we did the same thing last year along the Danube River when in Germany in Austria and Slovakia, Hungary the flood damages completely took over. In the transport sector as you know a handful of bottlenecks hinder road links across the country and tram connections here in Dublin. I met a taxi driver last night when I was driven from the airport into town and we had to go some construction place because there was something being done for Lewis and asked him what are they doing here. He said well they are doing what they should have done ten years ago. How can you build up such a system without connecting the two parts? And he said well that's why I'm here. So later this afternoon Minister Varadkar and I will formally announce new EIB support for the cross city link of Lewis to link Dublin's existing but separate light rail lines. I'm also pleased to confirm that we expect PPP funding for the N17 road project later this month. This will hopefully remove the last set of traffic lights between Balfast and Cork. Across Europe electricity transmission and distribution networks require upgrading. We need to continue linking the wind farms and to unlock economies of scale to improve interconnections between national networks. We are a little bit worried about that. Probably you won't find any wind park in the Baltic Sea or the North Sea or the eastern part of the North Atlantic which has not been financed by the European investment bank but sometimes I'm wondering where are the power lines that connect these places to the place of electricity consumption in the industrial heartland of Europe. This is still going to be a huge challenge ahead. I'll end two phases. Both challenges and opportunities in the energy sector investment by both the public and private sector and in many cases backed by EIB has helped ensure that private and business consumers will continue to access affordable energy and not face power cuts. Well, ladies and gentlemen, the need for concerted action and reform is clear across Europe, here in Ireland. Legitimate caution is gradually being replaced by optimism and the future is promising. However, challenges remain and the EU Bank will continue to provide its support to make this recovery optimally funded and robust. I'm looking forward to your comments and questions, your ideas, hoping to trigger also suggestions on where our support would be mostly needed if looking at the future aspiration of Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, we have always been drowning in crisis management over the last seven to ten years. It is time to do the last steps to finally leave the crisis behind us and then look into the future because whether we sometimes are aware of it or not, there is a life after the crisis. Thank you very much.