Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 17 November 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2021 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Finance Accounts 2021
2021 Report on the Accounts of the Public Services of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2021
Chapter 2 - Net Cost of Banking Stabilisation Measures
Chapter 22 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund

9:30 am

Mr. John Hogan:

We continue to look at it. The amount of time we talk about the housing market in the Department is significant. For Deputy O'Connor's benefit, both myself and the chief economist referenced the 2008 period; we are guided by the experience from that time but we are not driven by it. That is the first thing. The second thing is, ultimately, when it comes to individuals and households there must be an element of sustainability about the borrowings they are taking on, especially as we have had discussion here about rising interest rates. When the Central Bank has changed the mortgage rules, it is not a target and the Governor has been very clear on that. Ultimately, individual borrowers have a capacity to meet their repayments and that comes down to the assessment by the bank as to what they can and cannot meet. You are in a situation there where you are trying to predict the individuals-----

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