Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

However, I guess the banks are simply saying that anybody who does not pay and is making a choice not to pay is a strategic defaulter. In other words, if they do not pay their health insurance, put food on the table or pay for other necessities such as the petrol in their car, that is okay, but if they choose to pay for the petrol in their car or pay for necessities when they have a choice, they are strategic defaulters because they chose not to pay their mortgages. I do not know what happens if they choose to pay their property tax and not their mortgage - are they then strategic defaulters?

Many of these strategic defaulters are people who have a choice as to whether to go into debt to one creditor or another creditor. Let me put it very squarely in the time I have left: I do not blame those people in arrears who get a legal letter from their bank telling them to come in and see the bank if they do not engage with the bank. Why would they be enthusiastic about engaging with those who have stung them before and are now threatening to sting them again?

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