Mr. Padraic Kissane:

It probably comes to what lessons will be learned. The part that will be intriguing for me is the final report that will come from the Central Bank. Will it be a synopsis, as happened in the UK recently with the global restructuring group, GRG, division of Royal Bank of Scotland, or will the Central Bank issue the full report? It will probably be the full report and there will probably be some very damning statements in there. If the banks could be trusted, in an idyllic world, we would not need the Central Bank because we would not need an overseer. Putting the desire to return to shareholders ahead of customers is what is wrong.

There are other connected issues with regard to the non-payment of loans and the difficulty in taking repossession and getting the debt repaid. It cannot be viewed as an easy ride, either, for non-payers, because then the whole thing will crumble. One of the questions I have is why it is necessary for the bank to make €143,000 on a €300,000 loan, rather than €53,000. How much is enough?

If I was to give any indication of what should happen going forward, I would suggest that the family home should be treated as a cheaper loan anyway. The desire to own a home - however, we have to be careful that this does not drive the prices crazy as well. It could have a double edge to it. There is a certain level of affordability for people. It is estimated that about 35% of income is what people should be spending on a mortgage, yet we are up at 60% and 70% at the moment in some cases because the supply of housing is not there.

As for the fallout, to learn from this and reposition it again is going to be difficult. We are back with the same leopards, same spots, same treatment. If it happened again, would they do it again? I hope they would not because of their reputations and the carnage they are starting to see in the appeals. One could not do it to anybody willingly. There are good people in these banks and they know, but some people made the decisions. There were deliberate actions taken by some of these banks to ensure the restoration of the tracker did not occur.