Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the presentations made to the committee last week it was interesting that some of the groups dealing with people in mortgage arrears have a concept that the banks are going after individuals with equity in that if they can get equity out of a solution they will go after those people. We have not heard much on this occasion about small and medium enterprises, SMEs, that have significant property debts. What solutions is the bank offering those people to help keep the core business working well? Many of the groups that came before us last week believe the banks do not have the expertise to deal with many of the difficult cases coming before them. They described some of the solutions given as computer programme solutions because they are not being done on a case-by-case basis. The figures are simply put into a computer programme and whatever is spat out is the resolution offered. Do the witnesses believe they have the expertise in this area, and do they genuinely engage with people to sort out these issues? That is important from the committee's point of view. I know the bank has a commercial mandate. That is its agenda but it is a different agenda from the one we heard about last week. When all of this area is discussed in private afterwards the committee will consider whether it should make recommendations to Government on using the legislative powers of this House to help out people more. Could the witnesses give me a quick answer on those points?