Professor Patrick Honohan:

When I started talking to the committee about targets, I put down a few markers and warnings that there will be some unexpected side-effects.

This is not an entirely unexpected side-effect; it is part of a process. If I am back here in two years and committee members can say to me 50% of these properties ended up being repossessed, I will have to agree that they were right and I was wrong and that this was a disappointing outcome. However, what I expect is that the consequence of these letters will be engagement by borrowers with the banks that will lead to sustainable loan modifications. The banks did not just send the letters; they stated-----