Mr. Brendan Burgess:

We have a code of conduct on mortgage arrears and I do not think anything remotely similar to it exists elsewhere. We have got the most extraordinary personal insolvency legislation which allows the judge to impose a capital write-down on a borrower. I think it is unprecedented; it might exist in Norway in a handful of cases. If the Chairman was a borrower in difficulty and decided to go for a personal insolvency arrangement, PIA, within three or four months he could have his mortgage written down to the current value of the house.