Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I reject the argument that by coming to an arrangement with people that enables them to just about manage, AIB is somehow offering a solution to the damage to the economy that is being caused by the fact that so many people are in mortgage distress. I understand the logic of AIB's point of view, but I do not understand its rationale from the point of view of the economy as a whole. Even if an arrangement is reached that allows people to just about manage, as long as they are continuing to pay off the inflated mortgages that resulted from the property madness, they will be limping along for many years to come and therefore will not be able to contribute substantially to the restoration of economic demand.

I do not accept that is the case. Furthermore, I put it to AIB that given it is getting more requests for forbearance - 1,400 extra requests - the situation continues to worsen and deteriorate. It is obvious we need more radical solutions. AIB asserted in its response that this is not the answer for the economy. I cannot see what evidence it as for that assertion, given there is no evidence the current approach being pursued is getting us out of the crisis with anything like the urgency we need, both for the householders involved and the wider economy, where demand continues to be strangled by this debt burden.