Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Makhlouf for his opening statement and I wish him well in his new position. I want to hone in on interest rates. We have a situation where mortgage interest rates for new customers are between 2.25% and 3% but for existing customers they are in the region of 4.5%. We see all of the time that our mortgage interest rates, particularly for existing customers, are higher than anywhere else in Europe and they are certainly higher than what is needed to maintain the profitability of the banks. What does the Central Bank intend to do about that and what scope does it have to try to address that problem? That as being one of the greatest problems at the moment in respect of the affordability of mortgages. I refer to the statistics in regard to mortgage holders aged over 60 who still owe more than €150,000 and the 15,000 mortgage holders aged over 50 who are on interest-only mortgage rates. The witnesses can see where the problem is in this regard. In the context of the Central Bank's consumer protection role, what scope and intention does it have to address some of that?