Mr. Padraic Kissane:

From about 2003 onwards. There were some before that. Most people would not have selected a fixed period until either late 2006 or during 2007 because the ECB rate did not move at all from 2003 to 2005, meaning the variable, fixed and tracker options were all running at the same rate.

It was not until between 2006 and 2007 that the ECB rate moved about seven times and it increased every time. Nobody could determine at the time how high it was going to go so people ran for cover into fixed-rate loans.