ICS investor shareholders told the company's board that they were concerned at the poor returns on their capital resulting from the current low interest rate environment at its annual general meeting yesterday.

The building society's chairman, Mr Patrick McDowell, told the meeting that the current scenario, governed by a 2 per cent European Central Bank (ECB) repo rate, was likely to continue.

"Returns to savers, especially those who require speedy access to their capital, were again depressed and are likely to remain so in the current extremely low interest rate environment," he said.

One shareholder told the meeting that he had €10,000 on deposit with the building society, but it was getting a return of just 0.05 per cent.

"If I want a better return, I will have to risk my capital," he said.

Speaking after the meeting, ICS managing director Mr Joe Larkin acknowledged that low interest rates meant that savers were not getting returns.

"It is particularly difficult for older people, as they have a lower horizon and need a good bit of liquidity," he said.

He added that in some circumstances, there was little that financial institutions could do about the problem.

During the meeting, Mr McDowell and fellow non-executive directors, Mr Charles Lysaght and Ms Joyce O'Connor, were automatically re-elected.

The meeting also voted to increase the maximum fees payable to the five non-executive directors during the year to a total of €95,000 from €90,000.

In response to questioning from the floor, Mr McDowell said that this was "a contingency measure" in case the company increased the number of non-executive directors, or had some other reason for increasing their fees.