Signs of movement on mortgage debt at last

There are questions which remain unclear about AIB's decision to write off portions of mortgage debt but, broadly, a move to accept that some debts will never be paid is overdue – and welcome. For too long Irish banks have been playing the game of ''extend and pretend - pushing out repayments over longer periods, going to interest-only loans for a time and so on, but not actually writing off mortgage debt.

Debt ...