Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The general perception is the banks are not very helpful to people with distressed mortgages. This reflects the frustration members are encountering and I am sure the witnesses are picking up on that frustration at this meeting. Members have heard repeatedly that everything is moving too slowly. In the conversation on this issue in recent years, people have heard about moral hazard and moving on from that, that people will strategically default on their mortgages and that this is one reason the banks are moving so slowly. I believe this is one reason so many people are not engaging with the banks. They do not believe banks are particularly helpful, and while this does not apply to Mr. Duffy, the bolshie performance of some chief executive officers of other banks when appearing before the joint committee adds to the perception that the banks have no interest in helping out mortgage holders who are in distress.

Mr. Duffy mentioned a figure today of write-downs by his bank thus far of €38 million, but I note one bankrupt developer owes his wife more than that. We are not moving on this issue and given the joint committee has been talking about this issue for two or three years, I would have expected that when all the chief executive officers appeared before it, the cumulative figure under discussion would be close to €1 billion. However, it is nowhere near that. When one considers the actual total number of distressed mortgages and the amount people owe, one really should be talking about the writing off by AIB and the other banks of hundreds of millions of euro or at least €1 billion by this point and the banks should be indicating that a certain additional amount was in the pipeline. However, when such small figures are being cited, it is frustrating for members and the perception among the public is the banks have no interest in doing anything about this crisis. Instead, they intend to drag it on and ascertain whether they can work their way through it. From a political perspective, Mr. Duffy is in a more difficult position, in that AIB's shareholders are also the taxpayers. As its customers are the same taxpayers, therefore they will lose either way. If the bank gives out too much, they will lose and if the bank does not give out enough, they also will be the ones who will pay.

Consequently, there is a need for the banks to move quickly on the cases with which they are dealing. Last year, I believe Mr. Duffy stated there was a structural problem in this regard and that AIB did not have sufficient staff members who were trained to deal with these matters quickly enough. Twelve months later, it appears as though the same problem persists with his bank and the other banks. I believe there is a need to move on this issue quickly because this is what is adding to the poor public perception of banks, namely, their level of respect for their customers, in particular those who are in distress. I seek to ascertain Mr. Duffy's thoughts on this subject and on the future direction in this regard.