Mr. David Hall:

The concern I have now is a far greater concern than repossession. My concern now is health and mental health and the effect on individuals and families. I am not speaking specifically about Mr. Byrne or Ms Irwin but it can clearly be seen from their honesty and sincerity today the pressure this puts on people. These are real people and not all of whom, by the way, are equipped to deal with financial uncertainty, difficulties and challenges. The assumption lending institutions and the Central Bank have made is that people are up for dealing with difficult and stressful circumstances. Repossessions have not happened. The banks and the vulture funds made a decision pre-Covid-19 when many sales happened. I do not believe that people will get free homes so there is a problem ahead.

I am far more concerned at the undercurrent of stress that has been going on for ten years where we thought that this had passed, and now people are going to be back under pressure again.

I was speaking to Mr. Byrne earlier, and as regards normal family responsibilities, he has protected his family exceptionally well. He should not have to deal with this rubbish. This is unnecessary stress caused by a policy decision of the Central Bank and a State-owned bank to sell to a vulture fund - Pepper. I am more concerned about loss of life, stress and about family issues, challenges and mental health issues than I would have been about repossessions given the recent history.