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

By my calculation, somebody on the national industrial wage should be able to buy a three-up, three-down entry level house on a regular estate in a normalised market. That would indicate to me a return to normalisation. The difficulty is that six or seven years ago the people concerned were getting loans in excess of €250,000 and as much as €350,000. That is the problem. Even if they do not lose their jobs and become unemployed or see a reduction in wages, they are knackered. They cannot pay their existing loans. The fear I have is that Ulster Bank does not engage in sustainable solutions with those people whose debts span 35 years. At the latter end of a 20 year or 25 year schedule, paying a mortgage is a hassle, but it can be paid. On a 35 year schedule, when children are going to university, one is only halfway through the mortgage. Big bills are coming in when one should be seeing the end of it. Further debt difficulties are coming down the line for the people concerned. Leaving dogmatic left-wing, communist or socialist rhetoric to one side - I am talking in capitalist terms - the bank is not making sense.