I’m a fighter, not a quitter, declares Bowler

“I’M a fighter, not a quitter,” was the declaration from Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) chairperson Gillian Bowler yesterday — when once again confronted with questions about her future in light of the group’s controversial €7 billion deposit with Anglo Irish Bank, which has already led to three IL&P directors resigning.

A determined but apologetic Ms Bowler said deposits made with Anglo, in order to strengthen the appearance of that bank’s balance sheet ahead of its last end-of-year audit, shouldn’t have happened and wouldn’t have happened if IL&P’s board had full knowledge of the plan beforehand.

“They were wrong. The board did not know that they were occurring and I apologise unreservedly for them,” she said yesterday.