Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would be grateful for that. I will pursue the matter again because I also received a letter from the family concerned. Just like the Chairman, I sat at a table with representatives from the various banks in recent years. Some were sympathetic; others were not. I will not mention any bank in particular. Suffice it to say that in the context of those who were not, I had the doubtful pleasure of watching people cry their eyes out in front of a bank in the clear knowledge that they were getting no help from the bank. I am not accusing any of those who are present of that. I will not attribute it directly. I am taking that into account. I wish to state emphatically that the banks that lent to people on the basis of the prevailing circumstances at the time have a moral duty to ensure that when circumstances change, it is not just the circumstances for the borrower that change; it is the circumstances for everybody. Given that there was wide-scale over-lending throughout the country, ending up in a financial crash, there is a significant responsibility still on lenders to acknowledge the plight of borrowers.

There is little time remaining in this session.