FILE PHOTO: The Irish flag is seen on top of the Bank of Ireland on St. Patrick's Day as public events were cancelled due to the number of coronavirus cases grow around the world, in Dublin, Ireland, March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Bank of Ireland received 15,000 applications for payment breaks from mortgage customers in March, with a further 5,000 businesses seeking breaks or working capital, as a result of coronavirus disruption, its chief executive said.

“To put that into perspective, normally, before Covid, we would typically get just two or three applications for a break each day. We have seen on some peak days that demand at 2,000,” Francesca McDonagh told national broadcaster RTE on Friday.

The head of the Irish banks’ representative body said on Saturday that lenders were processing more than 28,000 mortgage breaks for customers by the end of last week after agreeing to loan repayment breaks of up to three months for those affected.