Mr. David Hall:

The cost of being before the courts comes to the debtor eventually but, ultimately, it is the banks that are goosed. The cost associated with entering a legal process and the average cost of repossession varies. At a recent meeting, the Irish Banking Federation told us that 50% of all the people in long-term arrears are paying nothing. In an emergency and a crisis, one needs to get into those numbers very quickly.

I am aware that Mr. Paul Joyce of FLAC will be appearing before the committee later today and I am sure he will provide a lot more documentation than we have. At a FLAC conference I attended a number of years ago a man stood up and said, "Not everyone is going to get equal treatment." This is a crisis. I am sorry, but not everybody will get equal treatment.