Mr. Padraic Kissane:

I will make a couple of comments. There are some facts on which I tend to focus. The lending in question stopped in 2008. We are now 15 years on. An eagerness to borrow and a willingness to lend was always going to be a recipe for disaster. The recovery from that disaster is taking time.

Mr. Burgess and Mr. Hall have covered some of the points I wished to address. There is a broader issue in the question of finance relating to the closure of bank branches. This will remain a challenge. The world of finance is changing. It has already changed in many respects. You cannot leave four branches open in a town for the four people who go into them. You cannot run a business like that. However, I see no reason there cannot be a bank depot in every village or town to replace them and from which every bank customer can operate. That is where this will go. It is what has happened abroad.

If I were ever to profess what should happen, I would point to how the one subject that is not taught in any school or university is finance and how to handle your money. This is where the problem originates. People rely on the advice of the bank of mum and dad and pick up the rest as they go along. Looking forward, a great deal must be done to educate people. They are graduating from university and walking into jobs for €50,000 per year but have no idea what to do with that money. That is crazy. Some get lucky, some do not. If we tackled the root of the problem, we would correct a great deal.