Owen McGee

Which at the start of all this, the banks and the lenders have got better at managing this, but at the start of all this, if you were thinking of looking for an exception in November, you might wait till January to apply because all the exceptions have been used up.

You could also find a situation where you walk into a bank branch in Ranelagh and they say, no, I can't give you an exception.

And you walk into the same bank, but just a different branch in Rathmines and they say, oh, we can't give you exception because that branch hasn't used up their exceptions.

But in general, there's always the joke as well, if your mother and father were good customers of the bank, then you, the bank manager, would get it through too.

So it is very much on a case-by-case basis, and they do have discretion.

But in general, you'd want to be in a position where you've got really good salary behind you, and not necessarily a high salary, just that you're managing your salary very well.

Maybe you can prove that this is not going to put you under pressure.

And it's not just a straightforward multiplication, David.

It's not just four times, or in this case, five times your salary.

There is another calculation that they have to do, which is called NDI, net disposable income.

So what they do is they work out four times your salary, and then they work out what the mortgage repayment is going to be.

And they look at any other car loans or any other loans you might have, and they look at what have you got left over after those financial commitments to live your life.

And this is all agreed in advance.

This is how much a couple needs.

This is how much a single person needs.

This is how much a family needs.

And if you don't have enough to put bread and milk on the table, they're not giving you that mortgage.

So if you think about that in real terms, someone getting four times the salary of 20,000 euros is very different to someone getting four times the salary of 200,000 euros in terms of what they have left over after to put bread and milk on the table.

And that's where the net disposable income does come into us, like after you've got it left, after you've paid the mortgage.

And that is something that really frustrates people, right?