John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Litigation is probably a couple of steps beyond common sense, whereas the judge rightly points out that mediation might be an option. I am just asking Dr. Hunt whether he would consider mediation. His answer seems to indicate that mediation is not an option and the bank is going to litigate this out to the end. I remind him that some of the people who appeared in the Public Gallery on the previous occasion on which this issue was debated at length by the committee have since died. They did not live to see the outcome of the efforts they were making to find some sort of address for this issue. I would have thought that as a common-sense approach, based on what the judge in the High Court suggested, mediation would be an avenue the bank would pursue. Has it even been thought about and discussed by the board or management team, or is it completely off the table and the bank is hell-bent on litigation?