Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

No, the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation is completely at arm's length. I have had dealings with it, so I can confirm that. Second, with regard to this independent service and why it is necessary, one of the things about engagement with the bank, as the witness knows, is the standard financial statement, which many people find incredibly difficult. MABS, which is an expert body in terms of dealing with debt, reported to us that it assisted 5,481 people in the six months from July to December 3013 to complete an SFS. However, 42% of them were subsequently queried by the lender. The MABS representatives gave us to understand that Bank of Ireland was a significant factor in querying these standard financial statements. They made the point that because these standard financial statements are not stress tested, they have seen fundamental basic expenditure which they regard as necessary being over-ruled by independent financial institutions in order to squeeze the pips out of the lemon.