Mr. Christopher Lehane:

It is an interest that vests in the official assignee. If I consider that half the people in this room were creditors and half were debtors, they would be asking me to consider that their debts have been written off completely. The committee focus has been on the banks but when one is the official assignee one is dealing with many creditors who, if they do not get paid, will be in to me as clients the next day wanting me to be fair to both creditors and debtors. Asking for €5,000 of an interest that vests in me is not a significant amount of money, given that I will not be pressurising any individual to come with the €5,000 and it could be that their property would still be in negative equity ten years from now. Many of the cases with which we are dealing involve people who are distressed because they have lost their job or have separated and they get back on their feet and get into a new situation where they will have the capacity to have the ability to pay. I do not believe that €5,000 is a penal sum of money. As the Chairman said, it is a minimum because in other situations where house prices are rising it may be more.