Mr. Richie Boucher:

Our priority has been the family home. In the first instance Bank of Ireland led, with the other banks, a protocol of significant restructuring and repayment of unsecured loans from one bank to another, for example, if a person has an unsecured loan or a credit card with Bank of Ireland and a mortgage with AIB. An holistic approach is absolutely what we seek. We cannot restructure in a situation where other creditors are making no gesture towards the customer and everyone. We are strong advocates of an holistic approach to dealing with debt. The customers' cashflows are what they are and cannot be adjusted or manoeuvred. The question is how those cashflows are used towards repayment.

Even though strictly speaking, under normal credit criteria in a normal situation, unsecured creditors take all the hit, Bank of Ireland has advocated a protocol which ensures as much clarity as possible for customers and debt service agencies, etc. as to what is tolerable. I cannot say we will restructure a mortgage where there is no gesture on the part of another unsecured creditor, and it would be inappropriate for me to do so. At the same time, I do not expect an unsecured creditor, on a voluntary basis, to get nothing, so there is a compromise but it must reflect the family home, the priorities and the usage of the customers' cashflows.