Mr. Brendan Burgess:

The average rate being charged across the EU is a reasonable indication of what is a fair rate, what I would call a fair base rate for mortgages. There is however, no doubt about it that it is very difficult for a bank in Ireland to actually repossess a home. There is not a huge sanction for people who do not pay their mortgage. A 90% loan-to-value is far more risky to a bank. In the UK a 90% mortgage is about 1% more expensive than a 50% mortgage. It looks to me as if there should be a risk factor of about 1%, or somewhere around that, going from a 50% loan-to-value up to a 90% loan-to-value. I would work on the current rate, which is about 2%, and I would raise it for higher, riskier loans.