Mr. Lorcan O'Connor:

I do not have a definite answer to that question in terms of firm numbers. However, when one considers the fact that there are still 100,000 mortgages in arrears and there may well be a large number of additional people who do not have a mortgage but still have financial difficulties, there is certainly a large cohort of people who still need help. I am grateful to the Deputy for highlighting that case study. We felt that notwithstanding the legitimate criticism and commentary around the low levels of cases we have dealt with, the feedback we have received from those who have availed is overwhelmingly positive. It is interesting that in very many cases - as in the case highlighted by the Deputy - when people speak to us they never once mention how much they might have had written off or the numbers in terms of what they owed and what they now owe but rather what it has meant to them in terms of their mental and physical health and so on. It has been a focus for us in recent times and as part of the back and track campaign to try to publicise those case studies and those messages. We have had debtors on both national and local radio and national television talking about what it has meant to them. The case study referred to by the Deputy is available as an audio file on our website. It is hoped that message will spread to those in need of help to say that there is help and it is now time to engage.