Ms Grainne Irwin:

We had started to look at how all this came about. I spoke to the husband of a friend of mine, a mortgage consultant, and he did some calculations and homework for us to determine whether switching was a route we could go down. I really do not envisage us ever getting away from the vulture fund unless there is some extra push to get that done. As Mr. Byrne just said, the fund will make it so difficult. It will really try to make it as difficult as it can. Switching is something we are looking into, and I hope it will be a successful venture, but who knows? The fund does not seem to be accountable to anybody. Who is asking how much money these guys are making? I have asked a question in this regard and have got no answer to it. I emailed Deputy Doherty's office and got the best answer I got from anybody, namely that the fund will not say what it bought the loan or mortgage for. It just will not give that figure out. If the bank was prepared to write off a certain amount of the debt, why was a reduction not offered to the people it wanted to get rid of to determine whether they could make a new payment before offloading the loan to a vulture fund that really could not give a rat's ass – pardon my French – about anything apart from money? All we are to it is a cash cow. We have continued to pay and do not intend to default. That is not an option. Our cost is €800 or €900 per month more than it was this time last year. If I had not drawn down the split mortgage, it would have been less. If we had drawn more down, the figure would go up. To my knowledge – Mr. Hall can back me up or correct me – the warehouse account rate sits at 0%, so there is absolutely no motivation whatsoever for me to draw down. The institution is quite happy for the amount in question to sit there. You are reminded that it is your responsibility to pay it. The institution does not really want you to because the minute you start making noises about moving away from it and getting back a bit of control, you are slapped down immediately.