Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If I can say for the record, the Taoiseach's response to Deputy Murphy was pretty disgraceful.

Homeowners are bracing themselves for tomorrow when the European Central Bank, ECB, will sign off its seventh mortgage interest rate hike since July of last year. This means that tens of thousands of workers and families will pay hundreds of euro extra per month compared with last year. People were under pressure even before this additional hike. It is becoming harder for homeowners to absorb these increases. For now it is in fact unbearable. Incredibly, the response of the Government has been to do nothing. Last week, it voted down Sinn Féin's mortgage interest relief plan but did not present a plan of its own. In my view, it is not good enough for the Government to tell struggling homeowners, fleeced by hike after hike, that they are own their own. Will the Taoiseach tell us what action he will now take to support these families that are under huge pressure from spiralling mortgage costs?

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