John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If I went to the public meeting tonight and I repeated at that public meeting that my position was as Mr. Verbraeken has outlined, I would probably be lynched before I would get to the exit door. That is how angry the customers are. They are angry because of the lack of information and the devastating effects of living in banking limbo is causing them such distress. Mr. Verbraeken has offered nothing today in terms of consolation for those customers. He has not given us numbers. Mr. Verbraeken will not give us a date by which the bank will conclude its examination. That is deeply frustrating and annoying, particularly because Mr. Verbraeken has come to the meeting. When Mr. Verbraeken decided that he would come here and give his case, I thought that he would at least outline some indicative timeframe for dealing with this, and he has not.

I can only then move to the next question. Where a customer feels that he or she should be part of this review, and, obviously, that the customer is, in terms of his or her tracker position, and the customer is in deep difficulty, the customer is in trouble financially and will be in deeper difficulty the longer it takes KBC Bank to reach a conclusion to its examination, does KBC Bank prioritise that customer? Does the bank bring such customers in and go through their case and offer a solution, or is it the same answer that Mr. Verbraeken will give them that they will have to wait until everything is concluded?