Ms Mairead McGuinness:

I can be very swift on this question. Completing banking union should help to provide more competition and to provide better mortgage rates for mortgage holders. We do not set those interest rates. There are different rates across Europe. As the Deputy said, Ireland's is the third highest so there are two countries above us. The mandate I have been given and that I am working on is to try to move forward banking union in order that we can have a sector that is cross-border. It is impossible or really difficult to get a loan for something in one member state financed by a bank in another. These are barriers to the free movement of capital and banking services. It will take some time to crack the idea of a banking union. That is where we will see, I would hope, movement on this particular issue around mortgage interest rates.

One of the Deputies referenced bank profitability. Currently, interest rates are really low and there has been a very high increase in deposits because those who are in employment and continue to be paid are not spending due to the fact that shops were not open but equally because of uncertainty. In some cases, negative interest rates are being paid on what they have in banks. There is also a link to the wider remit of the capital markets union. It would be preferable if we could have an investor confidence that savers would put money into enterprises and plan for their own future. We do not have those flexibilities now.

In terms of my mandate from the President of the Commission my work and banking union and capital markets union should help us move in the direction of banking services being available across borders. Currently, we have a very nationalised banking system. It is extraordinary that despite the crisis we went through it is perhaps more nationalised now than we thought it would be following that particular crisis. There is a lot of work to be done.