Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That brings me to the issue of confidentiality clauses, information coming into the public domain and so forth. We are arriving at a situation since the end of quarter two where 25% of the distressed mortgage books must be dealt with by October, which is the next deadline. We need to get up to 50% and I imagine that will create a good deal of work in Mr. O'Connor's area as the banks have to reach those figures because potentially it will put people into insolvency mode. The banks currently are applying confidentiality clauses but they are not taking a consistent approach. Some banks are using them while others use them only in the arena of a business and so on. If somebody enters into a confidentiality arrangement at the beginning of the process, which some of the banks are requiring, and a resolution is not forthcoming they must enter an insolvency process. Has Mr. O'Connor expressed concern to the banks about people being locked into a confidentiality process at the start of their negotiations with them, and how does that square up when they enter insolvency? If I were on that route and I could not square a deal with the banks, that should be grounds for my approaching Mr. O'Connor's service but I am locked into a situation where the banks are saying I cannot use that information because I signed a confidentiality clause.