Mr. Stephen Bell:

Yes, the same customers. The average customer in arrears would have between €11,000 and €12,000 of unsecured debt. However, the nature of unsecured debt is that it is at a higher APR and over a shorter period, so the monthly payments can often be 60% or 70% of the mortgage payment, which is why we have been very supportive of debt relief notice and debt settlement arrangements through the personal insolvency service.

That is why we were happy to support the intra-bank arrangements that were made through the IBF whereby if one of the five principal banks is trying to settle a mortgage issue, but one of the other banks holds the unsecured debt, the other bank agrees to deprioritise the unsecured debt so that the focus could be made on the mortgage holder.