Mr. David Hall:

Some commentators who are friendlier to the banks than I might be will reference my commentary in respect of a tsunami of repossessions. There has not been a tsunami of repossessions because of the courts system. Deputy O'Callaghan would know more about this than me. The courts system has been friendly towards debtors. It is not because of the banks' intent. The banks currently have 17,000 family home repossession proceedings before the courts. That is not a platform of social justice. There is a clear intent to throw people out of their homes. It is only because of varying degrees of interventions from this Parliament and from others that these proceedings have been delayed. The Insolvency Service of Ireland was established; the code of conduct to which Deputy McGrath referred was amended; the bankruptcy period fell from 12 years, to three and then to one; and the veto in the insolvency legislation was removed. A variety of solutions came along over the past six years which have delayed this inevitability. This delay gave some people hope. In some circumstances it was false hope. The cleanest and simplest way of dealing with this issue from the banking perspective is to sell the loans to vulture funds. There are currently 32,000 families in arrears of more than two years. The banks will say that half are not paying. If one looks at the natural evolution of that situation, there is a risk to 20,000 families. That number of people would fill Croke Park. We think we have a housing crisis at the moment, but it is nothing compared with what we will have if these repossessions begin.