Mr. David Hall:

In regard to split mortgages, AIB has a new split mortgage about which people have been very excited, and people who should know better have been asking about transparency. This product is the exact same product as the previous split mortgage, where people, supposedly, were negotiating with AIB in regard to achieving a split mortgage for their clients. The split mortgage has one elementary criterion in regard to its entry level, namely, being able to prove affordability to pay a minimum of 80% of the current market value. If people can pay 90%, 100% or 110%, they will do so. It is based on affordability. Every other option thereafter is based case by case. Therefore, someone who is a solicitor who may be retiring in a couple of years time may not get tranche C, which is a write-off tranche. There are three tranches in all.

We did not get a chance to circulate to the committee the most recent example we have, but we will provide it in order that the committee can see the exact details of how this scheme operates. There is no secrecy around this. There is no one sitting in a bank centre choosing Deputy Higgins over David Hall and deciding to give him a better write-off. It is done case by case.