Mr. Padraic Kissane:

At present, with the one furthest down the line, it is the courts that will have to do it. There lies the problem. One of the issues - my next challenge - is to try and unify all of the affected customers within each lender because what the banks do not want is an informed opinion grouping the entire levels of affected customers into one group because then that group will have clout. It would have the financial might, the legal expertise and the finances to take it wherever it goes and defend it to the hilt. If we group together - that is what I am telling people they should do - as one unit, let us send in one case and, by crowd-funding it, we will finance it to the same degree. I have a legal team ready to go. I have a senior counsel engaged. None of it is paid for because we have no money, but we will have to challenge them.

One question will arise. There is a question at the start of a witness statement, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth", and I will have no problem going on the stand and taking it. However, we will have a list of witnesses, both past and present, from each bank and they will be asked those tough questions. That will be an uncomfortable day. If I have to go to court, I will bring the staff back who took those margins out, explain how one case got it back and the other one did not, and get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately, for those affected who are listening in their thousands, we do not have any choice at present. If the Oireachtas was to do anything, I would suggest that the possibility of class actions should be looked at because that would take away the need for individual cases. The banks have all the aces when it is an individual issue but when one groups those cases together, that changes the animal.