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                                                                    EXHIBIT 12.1

         I, Michael D. Soden, certify that:

         1.       I have reviewed this report on Form 20-F of The Governor and
         Company of the Bank of Ireland;

         2.       Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
         statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
         to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
         such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
         covered by this report;

         3.       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
         financial information included in this report, fairly present in all
         material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
         cash flows of the company as of, and for, the periods presented in this
         report;

         4.       The company's other certifying officer and I are responsible
         for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
         defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
         registrant and have:

         a)       Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
         such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
         supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
         company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
         by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
         which this report is being prepared;

         b)       Evaluated the effectiveness of the company's disclosure
         controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
         about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
         of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
         evaluation; and

         c)       Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
         internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
         period covered by the annual report that has materially affected, or is
         reasonably likely to materially affect, the company's internal control
         over financial reporting; and

         5.       The company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
         based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
         reporting, to the company's auditors and the audit committee of
         company's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
         functions):

         a)       All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
         design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
         are reasonably likely to adversely affect the company's ability to
         record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

         b)       Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
         or other employees who have a significant role in the company's
         internal control over financial reporting.

Date: July 23, 2003                         /s/ MICHAEL D. SODEN
                                            __________________________
                                            Michael D. Soden
                                            Group Chief Executive Officer