Mr. Jim O'Keeffe:

As we know, repossessions have not been a significant feature of the market. Restructuring has been by far the most favoured option for banks. In my last discussions here we said that one is 100 times more likely to get restructure out of difficulty than be repossessed. Nonetheless, we recognise that we have reached the point in the cycle whereby many people are in deep difficulty. Our legal grouping comprises three categories. The first is people who have no affordability and will be unable to sustain a mortgage, the second is people who have some affordability and will probably be able to take on other solutions through engagement and the third is people who may fix over a period with some short-term intervention.

Earlier I referred to the mortgage-to-rent piece but I do not expect it to be the silver bullet. Reference was made to thoughts in the industry around other pieces. Certainly, AIB wants to identify the people who are at the point where, regrettably, they have no affordability because we want to help solve that issue. We believe that those people are too nervous to come forward. If they come forward then we will consider the mortgage-to-rent solution. That is a programme of work that is taking place at the moment with a third party that we hope to launch imminently. The initiative should give people in this category the confidence to approach us and say they have no affordability and ask what they can do. We would then engage with them. Some people with affordability will come forward and we will work with them to put in place the solutions we have already provided to over 40,000 customers whether that is a split mortgage, a low fixed interest rate, etc. That is the initiative we are taking along with the proposition that has been provided by a third party.