Mr. David Duffy:

Maybe it was the words chosen that were distorted. Just to be clear, the observation is statistically and mathematically correct. Mr. O'Connor will speak about the total portfolio. What we see as legals will be a much smaller number as we have resolved all cases in total. The key issue to remember is that meeting the mortgage arrears resolution targets requires the customer to have engaged. In our case, therefore, legal letters are merely a default - an outcome of non-engagement. What is in one's gift? If one is given a target in life that cannot be executed unless the person engages, then one cannot deliver that target. That is why under the regulatory regime legal letters are sent.

Recognising the Deputy's exact point, we have said that if they will not engage, and we therefore default into this higher number of legals, we will take all of the innovations we can, like IMHO, to get beyond those legal definitions and bring people back to the table to engage. I am not disagreeing with the Deputy's point; I am saying that I cannot do anything about it. In our exact position, we have done everything possible in all of our products. We have done everything possible in terms of innovation. We have gone to our worst critics and even asked consumers to talk to them. Beyond that, legal letters for AIB are a by-product of customer behaviour, not of our actions.