Mr. John Moran:

Primary responsibility for ensuring one group of customers is not being disadvantaged by another lies with the regulator in his regulation of the banks. To the extent that there are situations where people are being charged a rate of interest on their mortgage which puts them in a position where they are not able to pay it, the banks must, as stated, engage with these customers in working out what is an appropriate mortgage. There are two ways to do this. One can move back some of the principal and apply the normal rate of interest or return to a split mortgage if the average rate is too high.