AROUND THE BLOCK bumped into a medical consultant recently who was about to complete the purchase of a nice house in one of Dublin’s better neighbourhoods. “You wouldn’t believe the hoops I had to jump through to get a mortgage,” he said. The medic, who didn’t have to sell another property first, was most put out. Rather odd, we thought, especially as consultants are rarely short of a few bob and would be a good proposition for any bank. “In order to get the mortgage,” the surgeon continued, “I had to be tested for HIV, Hepatitis C and even had to undergo a rectal examination to check my prostrate.”

Health screening for mortgage approval is common in some European countries but the doctor checked with a colleague who bought on the same street two years ago and “no way had he to undergo anything like the tests I had to”. Obviously, the banks are getting a lot stricter about who they’re giving the lolly out to these days. An agent tells us that anyone over 45 who is looking for a few million may have to undergo similar medical tests to those described above. How times have changed!