Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ms McDonagh says people with a loan to value of less than 60% who are on a variable rate are on 3.9%. That is if they have been proactive and have responded to the bank's letters and sent in an up-to-date valuation. I bet thousands of customers have a low loan to value ration but are still on the interest rate for over 80% LTV. They have never gone about sending in that up-to-date valuation and have never moved down the loan to value band. It would be very interesting to see a breakdown of the 47,000 customers. It would tell us some of the story in that respect. I appreciate that the bank writes to them and sets out what they need to do. If any message comes out of today's meeting, although I am not sure it is one Ms McDonagh will want to hear, it is that those customers should certainly contact Bank of Ireland to see if they can get a better rate. If they want to stay on a variable rate, they can submit an up-to-date valuation and avail of a reduction of up to 6.6%, move to a fixed rate and go on 2.9% or else shop around and switch their mortgage elsewhere to get an ever lower rate. That is what they should be doing. I would be very interested if Ms McDonagh would drill down into that data. There are longstanding Bank of Ireland customers whose mortgages are probably less than 50% of the value of their homes and they are paying 4.5%. It is just crazy.