Mr. John Moran:

We will encourage, as we do already, the banks to seek a resolution of the mortgage issue. That will require a large range of options. We have always said there is no one solution to fit every situation. In a scenario where somebody works out the maximum value he or she can support as a mortgage in a sustainable way -- I am talking about somebody who when one looks at the medium to long term in terms of the mortgage he or she can repay on a sustainable basis, not a situation where somebody loses his or her job and there is a temporary shock to his or her income - and if the value of that mortgage is less than the value of the property he or she is in, irrespective of whether he or she is in negative equity, that is a situation where essentially there should be a voluntary surrender of the house. It is not one in which there should be a write-off because that would not be in the interests of the taxpayer or the banks and, therefore, not in the interests of those who are currently paying their mortgages.