We have audited the Group and parent company financial statements (the “financial statements”) on pages 30 to 61. These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out in the statement of accounting policies and estimation techniques on pages 30 to 33.

 

Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
The directors’ responsibilities for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable Irish law and the accounting standards issued by the Accounting Standards Board and published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland) are set out in the Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities on page 26.

 

Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). This report, including the opinion, has been prepared for and only for the company’s members as a body in accordance with Section 193 of the Companies Act, 1990 and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving this opinion, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.

 

We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland, and are properly prepared in accordance with Irish statute comprising the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006, and the European Communities (Companies: Group Accounts) Regulations, 1992. We state whether we have obtained all the information and explanations we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit, and whether the Company balance sheet is in agreement with the books of account. We also report to you our opinion as to:

 

•	whether the Company has kept proper books of account;
•	whether the directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements; and
•	whether at the balance sheet date there existed a financial situation which may require the Company to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Company; such a financial situation may exist if the net assets of the Company, as stated in the Company balance sheet, are not more than half of its called-up share capital.

 

We also report to you if, in our opinion, any information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and directors’ transactions is not disclosed and, where practicable, include such information in our report.

 

We read the other information contained in the Annual Report, and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements. This other information comprises only the Chairman’s Statement, Managing Director’s Review, and the Directors’ Report. We consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.

 

Basis of audit opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgments made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Group’s and Company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.

 

We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.

 

Opinion
In our opinion the financial statements:

•	give a true and fair view, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland, of the state of the Group’s and the Company’s affairs as at 25 March 2009 and of the Group’s profit and cash flows for the year then ended; and
•	have been properly prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006 and the European Communities (Companies: Group Accounts) Regulations, 1992.

 

We have obtained all the information and explanations which we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit. In our opinion proper books of account have been kept by the Company. The Company’s balance sheet is in agreement with the books of account.

 

In our opinion the information given in the directors’ report on pages 24 to 27 is consistent with the financial statements.

 

The net assets of the Company, as stated in the Company balance sheet on page 39 are more than half of the amount of its called-up share capital and, in our opinion, on that basis there did not exist at 25 March 2009 a financial situation which under Section 40 (1) of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983 would require the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the Company.

 

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
Dublin
23 June 2009