Mr. John McCarthy:

Another 987 are active or going through the process at present. We carried out a review of that scheme in 2017, if memory serves. A few things in the scheme were acting as restrictions so we increased the thresholds for the value of properties. We also increased what we call the over-accommodation so we could get more people into it. That has brought more into it.

Mortgage arrears remain a significant issue for the housing market but it has been improving over the last two years. It is a very big step for any household to cede ownership and become a tenant. They tend to explore every other possible avenue beforehand.