Mr. David Duffy:

We were trying to contact them. We were working through what the regulator said we could and could not do. Ms Justice Dunne made it impossible to do anything else. For me, it is a principle. One lends and one is supposed to get that money back. If there is a reason one cannot, one sits down and discusses it. However, where one has a population that is that length of time overdue and who will not engage, one does not have a choice. It is not by choice.

As I said, this is not an economic solution we want to go to. If it went to the full legal process, that would be bad for everybody. We have had to go out to try to identify these homes. In excess of 500 of them did not have an owner-occupier, but had been rented, and that income which had not been given to us for three years was being diverted. I understand the statistical relevance of what the Deputy is saying, but I am not sure there is a better suggestion when faced with somebody who will not make contact or respond and whose payments are overdue by three years.