Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the absence of my party colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, this morning. I thank the delegation for attending this meeting as I believe an important public service is being provided by the committee, particularly with the live broadcast on television. Many citizens watching this meeting believe it is important to hear the answers from the banks because they have had significant support from the State and its citizens. The people feel they should be the boss. We, their representatives, are asking the questions.

One issue not dealt with in Mr. Richard Boucher’s presentation on revenue growth was standard variable rate, SVR, mortgages. Is that part of the bank’s strategy in revenue growth, on top of selling new products and getting new customers? Yesterday, AIB gave a fairly stark outline of where it sees SVRs going in the short and medium term. What is Bank of Ireland’s assessment of this?

Bank of Ireland’s mortgage resolution options seem to be mainly concerned with moving people out of their houses. In its submission, the terms “assisted sales”, “voluntary sales” and “trade down” are used. Surely, we should be trying to keep people in their homes. There are other options open to the bank such as the shared equity scheme. Has it considered this as a way of keeping people in their homes? I do not see any mention of a deferred interest initiative which was a recommendation of the Cooney report, commissioned by the previous Government. How many mortgage-to-rent arrangements has the bank undertaken? That has been flagged as a major answer to mortgage difficulties but it does not seem to be happening.