MR Howard Kilroy has agreed to stay on as governor of the Bank of Ireland for another three years. Mr Kilroy, whose term of office was due to expire next year, confirmed to shareholders yesterday he was to stay on in the post.

Addressing the bank's annual general court in Dublin, the former president and chief operations officer of the Jefferson Smurfit Group told shareholders he was pleased to remain with the bank. His decision was warmly received by the more than 200 shareholders attending the meeting.

The news brought some light relief to the lengthy meeting, which once again returned to issues raised in previous sessions and, in particular, to a proposed change in the bank's voting, rights.

Following a legal challenge taken by a dissident shareholder, Mr Kilroy was again forced to ask shareholders to formally approve the rule change. The proposal, which the bank is satisfied was overwhelmingly approved by shareholders at last year's meeting, introduces a one vote per share system. It removes a previous restriction whereby shareholders could only vote in respect of shareholdings of up to 1 per cent of the total number of the bank shares.

One shareholder, Mr Niall Duggan, however, has claimed the vote was technically defeated at the previous meeting. He maintains the vote, while passed by a majority of shareholders at that meeting, was defeated because proxy votes held by the governor were not included in the final result.

Mr Duggan has challenged the outcome of the previous ballot in a High Court action against the bank. He had lead a small group of shareholders who tried to block the proposal at last year's meeting.

Rejecting Mr Duggan's claims, Mr Kilroy said the bank had been advised to call another ballot to fully approve the rule change and to remove any uncertainty in, relation to the new rule. The proposal was overwhelmingly accepted with 169 million votes in favour of its adoption compared, with six million votes in opposition.

Other shareholders were more preoccupied with the bank's image, one woman asking if its directors could be asked to accept "reasonable" fees to avoid the appearance of "greed".

Mr Kilroy assured her that the bank's senior executives were not overpaid. Its strong performance this year was a clear indication "they were worth what the bank was paying them", he said.

Mr Kilroy said 1996 had been a watershed for the bank. Mergers and acquisitions made by the Bank of Ireland group over the past year would make a positive earnings contribution and have a long term positive affect on its business.