Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When we met the European Central Bank, we discussed the issue of sustainable mortgages. When we defined a sustainable mortgage, we found that the ECB in Frankfurt had taken severe umbrage that all and sundry were blaming it for the need to sell non-performing loans to funds and deleverage at a rapid rate. It took it quite personally and was forthright in saying so. For the first time ever, it gave us what I would regard as a common-sense, definitive version of what was a sustainable loan. It stated a sustainable loan was one that the customer could afford. The rest should be warehoused. There is senior debt which the customer can afford to repay, like any normal mortgage. Someone with a mortgage of €200,000 could technically afford to pay €150,000 of that amount. As far as the person is concerned, the sustainable part is within their age profile. If it could be restructured as a 20 year mortgage, he or she could repay the €150,000 and the balance would be warehoused. The ECB did not regard it as a non-performing loan. What is the Central Bank's perspective because we had a lengthy discussion on it and the ECB was quite forthright about it? That was the first time I had heard a definition of what was a sustainable loan. At the same time it meets the criteria not to be regarded as and deemed to be a non-performing loan.