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

I thank all the attendees. I commend them on filling the gap in trying to help people to navigate through the crisis they are facing.

A question I have on the big picture concerns the fact that there was, in effect, a ban on repossessions. Perhaps the banks had no great inclination to repossess at the outset of the crisis because property values and rents were on the floor. There was not a hell of a lot in it for them, but now the ban is gone and the pressure is on them to repossess. There is a growing incentive for them to do so. Are the delegates alarmed by the prospect that the current rise in rents and property values could actively incentivise the banks to ratchet up the number repossessions?