Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There was something interesting in the Ulster Bank proposals this afternoon in that they seemed to be implying a range of solutions. They have certainly broadened in recent years. From the get-go there was a limited menu of solutions and many of them simply involved deferment and elongation. More processes have been made available to the bank now. They are indicating that perhaps there needs to be some more or that there needs to be some flexibility around them.

Let me broach the issue. Is there a difference between a sustainable solution and what might be considered a sustainable mortgage? As I understand it, the Central Bank has given Ulster Bank targets involving sustainable mortgages whereby they are mortgages that are cleared before someone hits the age of retirement. Perhaps the Central Bank may need to revisit that and allow payments to continue into the post-retirement period, especially in a situation where the capital is rather small. For example, if someone is on a tracker, then an interest-only payment would be far cheaper for that person than renting a house in the private sector following repossession.