Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The banks are going to take a bath.

I put it to Professor Honohan that there is a high level of so-called non-engagement because huge numbers of people cannot afford to pay. Those to whom I refer have lost their jobs, their incomes have been reduced and they simply cannot afford their repayments. Sooner or later that is going to manifest itself and either a massive hole will be blown in the balance sheets of the banks or wholesale repossessions will occur. The latter will lead to the creation of such a massive hole in any event because the banks will take a bath in respect of the properties they repossess. Are we prepared for such an eventuality? Are the stress tests relating to the banks adequate to deal with an outcome such as that to which I refer? In light of the figures the banks supplied to the committee last week, all the evidence points towards the fact that people just do not have the money to pay, that the hope that everything will be all right on the night is just a fantasy and that this whole matter is just going to explode in our faces.