Mr. David Hall:

A key aspect of this debate is being missed. In advance of today's meeting, we circulated details of 600 cases which were deemed unsustainable even though those involved had engaged with the lenders and supplied financial statements. People who have been tortured for the past ten years have received letters from their banks saying, "Dear John, you are goosed". According to the Insolvency Service of Ireland's statistics for the first quarter of this year, 40% of personal insolvency arrangements were vetoed - voted down - by banks. People are encouraged to come forward and go to court, only to be executed despite what the banks may have told them in advance. In the case of the cohort of people who have refused the solutions they have been offered, it is on their own heads. Their own tragedies are ahead because they have not accepted those solutions. Data are not available on the cohort of people mentioned by Mr. Burgess - those who have not engaged. They may have engaged with politicians, with MABS or with ourselves. We may have done the assessment on their behalf and found out what the bank has already found out, which is that they do not have the money to pay. Is it right to encourage those who do not have the money to pay their mortgages to continue to pay €200 a month as a delaying tactic and hope for the best? They might do so as a delaying tactic. The legal system is currently the only system in the State that is preventing mass repossessions. It is not Government policy that is preventing mass repossessions. It is very difficult to say to somebody that they should continue to pay even though they are going to be executed. The Central Bank has yet to release data in respect of the most important question that has yet to be asked of all the banks. How many customers have engaged with their banks, which have assessed their full financial details, only for the banks to decide they cannot help them? That is the first true question to be considered when we are assessing how many people will lose their homes. If a bank cannot restructure one's loan, one has no chance. It is very difficult. We have a very odd policy. It is not necessarily politically correct. Why would one pay for one's own funeral?