Mr. Brian Hayes:

It is the figures from the Central Bank of Ireland which are published. In most cases, as I understand it, in the case of voluntary surrenders, they are by agreement with the credit servicing firm. In some cases, they pay for people to rent for a period of time because it is actually easier to get a voluntary surrender than a full court order in most cases.

We have a significant problem with long-term arrears. It is not going away, notwithstanding the fact that significant progress has been made up to the last 12 months. As I said earlier, we have had an 8% reduction. However, those people are older, they have no capacity to repay and we have to find solutions. We have worked very closely with the Government on the mortgage to rent. This is an example of a good solution whereby someone can stay in their home. That home will then come into the stock of social homes. We have worked with the local authorities, Members of the Oireachtas and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to advance that. However, I accept that there is a problem around long-term arrears that we collectively have to resolve. There is a cohort of approximately 26,000 in total that will have to be resolved at some point.