Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand the logic of the bank not wanting to give write-downs lest that becomes a practice within the market and it is not possible to provide write-downs for many people. We hear regularly from banks that they deal with people on a case-by-case basis. There are cases where an individual or family would be able to deal with, say, two thirds of the debt owed but cannot deal with 100% of the debt owed. In some of those cases, the persons involved may go bankrupt or pay no money back to the bank. There would be a net benefit to the bank in writing down the debt in those cases. Why, in those cases, does the bank not allow for write-down? In a similar corporate scenario the decision is made positively for a write-down. There has to be a net cost to the bank in living up to its no debt write-down rule in certain cases.