Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I will not be so impolite to say what that might make the Taoiseach. Many people consider that several billion euro of the bailout money to the banks was related to difficulties with household mortgages which the banks have not reflected in their policy of writing down debt. Is this the Taoiseach's understanding? Surely the alternative to having unfortunate people dragging mountains of debt around, with the accompanying stress and with unsustainable mortgage repayments, is that the mortgages should be written down to the current level of value of the house and in this way get rid of that overhang and allow people to spend their money in the real economy which would help to create jobs.

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