Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Duffy and his team for what has been a very useful meeting. His answers have been blunt and to the point, which is very much appreciated. One of the things that has struck me and that will strike many taxpayers coming from this meeting is what Mr. Duffy has put on the public record, that is, 50% of people in arrears are refusing or failing to fill in financial statements. Taxpayers throughout the country will welcome the fact that AIB is making efforts to make the people concerned engage in the process. How long is a bank meant to wait before a person engages? Is it four years, five years or six years?

If the banks fail to engage, they do not help anybody. I would like to echo some of the comments made by my colleagues throughout this meeting by asking Mr. Duffy to consider why they are not engaging. I meet a significant number of people in my office who are really fearful and intimidated. I believe Mr. Duffy when he says his bank has a new approach, a new team, a new structure and a new attitude to its dealings. These people do not get that, however. Perhaps they do not know it. I welcome the sending of the legal letter. It has to be sent because the issue has to be dealt with. I am interested in what the bank does after that. I refer to how it gets its message out, for example.

Mr. Duffy mentioned that representatives of the bank are going to travel to Waterford to meet customers there. All of that sounds very positive, but it is not what I experience in my constituency office when I meet grown men who have always wanted to provide for their families and been able to do so, but simply cannot pay their mortgages at present. When they receive a letter from the bank, they consider it as a threat to take their home. That is the fear that exists. I would like Mr. Duffy to take that message from me when he leaves this meeting. In many cases - there may be exceptions - these people are genuinely fearful of engaging with the banks. They are intimidated. They do not know how to sit down and pen a letter to a bank. I think that is the biggest issue we have to overcome collectively. Obviously, we have a job to do in that regard.

I would like to ask a couple of questions. I am happy to group them together. Fitch and Standard & Poor's have suggested that Bank of Ireland and AIB could require further capital. In their view, both banks will require further capital. Will Mr. Duffy give me his view, from an AIB perspective, on the possibility that further capital might be required? The last time he appeared before this committee, he mentioned that the chairman of his bank had requested voluntary contributions from pension entitlements from former senior bank executives. I wonder how that played out in the end. Did the former senior bank executives agree to make voluntary contributions from their very hefty and, in some cases, overly generous pensions? Perhaps Mr. Duffy will respond to those questions first. I will come back in if that is okay.