Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is Mr. Boucher blaming the Minister of Finance? He is big enough to say what is required. He should acknowledge that the capital that was injected into the bank has not been paid back and that what have been paid back are the fees that applied to the products bought in terms of shares in the years in question and the fee that applied to the guarantee issued to the bank. I refer to other services offered to the bank. It is important to state this because it cost the State money to provide these services.

I wish to move on to the issue of arrears which is the primary focus of the committee in terms of mortgages. With regard to the data the bank has, Mr. Boucher talked about redemption and improvement in large numbers. I take it that with people getting back to work or other factors, the financial position has improved. The arrears capitalisation figure for private domestic homes is 1,060. Reference is made to a total of 2,373. Is it the case that there was a natural improvement in these cases?