Mr. Ed Sibley:

As the pandemic was hitting in February and March and coming upon us at pace, there were very high levels of uncertainty about the effects it would have, how long the initial lockdown would be, what sectors would be affected and whether lenders were operationally ready to deal with the large numbers. The Governor has referred to 90,000 mortgagors and 100,000 Irish borrowers at that time. We insisted that lenders prepared by using the breathing space that the payment breaks, which were generally available, provided to borrowers and lenders to build the operational capability to engage better and in a more tailored way with those borrowers who were unfortunately experiencing difficulties because of the pandemic. We are looking at that very much in real time in the context of what is happening today. We can see who is coming off payment breaks and how payment breaks have matured. The majority are going back to being able to repay their loans fully. Unfortunately, a significant enough minority of those borrowers will require a further tailored support. We can see the unevenness of the effects of the pandemic on particular sectors like hospitality and accommodation. We need to consider what they will require and whether we should tie it to support to other sectors. Clearly there are further restrictions now, but our experience of the previous restrictions has given us an understanding of what sectors are likely to be most affected by them. This will enable lenders to engage with borrowers to find the right solutions for them. We recognise that we might be in and out of these types of restrictions over the next six to 12 months, depending on how the health emergency evolves.