Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Can I put some of that testimony to you from the chairman, Frank Daly? And both made serious reference to the equality of the security that banks had or didn't have, in terms of massive loans. Mr. Daly said, "The safety zone of borrower equity usually existed only on paper. The result is that the borrower was typically not the first to lose. In the event of a crash, the banks stood to take 100% of the losses and that's what happened." He said, "The model did not appear to require a stringent approach by borrowers to analysing project feasibility." And he said, "Very little, if any, consideration was given to the inherent cyclical nature of the property markets. The attitude appears to have been that the only way was up, that somehow the forces of gravity were suspended as far as the Irish market was concerned and that the long established pattern of property market cycles was no longer relevant." Does any of that apply to Allied Irish Banks?