Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To the stock. If we look at the trend in what is in place in table 15, the majority are interest-only mortgages for a short duration and also interest with a reduced capital. Mr. Boucher mentioned that none of them involve a reduction in interest across the entire period of the loan. They are short-term solutions. It is my understanding that the Central Bank will not accept interest-only as a long-term solution, in particular not of the magnitude presented. If Mr. Boucher could suggest that interest-only would be a long-term solution and there is a genuine belief by the bank that for some reason the customer would be able to pay interest and capital in two years or three years’ time, it would be seen as a long-term solution, but to rely on more than a third of the solutions as interest-only would not be accepted by the Central Bank. That is the position based on the information I have received.

I am not sure whether Mr. Boucher followed the transcripts yesterday but when the CEO of AIB, Mr. David Duffy, presented to the committee on the breakdown of its offers, he did not include interest-only because he mentioned that the Central Bank would not accept that as a long-term solution.