Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I gave my analysis in my reply. Like Deputy Morgan, I am well aware of those who are hard pressed by the current difficulties in our economy. However, the fact is that borrowers entered a contract to repay a particular loan on a fixed basis, the banks funded that on a fixed basis and there is a fee payable for the loss to the institution caused by the decision to end the arrangement. That is the difficulty. Were I, for example, to interfere in that arrangement, it would put into doubt the capacity of a banking system to enter into fixed term arrangements in future decades.

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