Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Governor and his team to the committee. In a wide address, the Governor focused on interest rates. His comments will set alarm bells ringing in the houses of those who have been in contact with me as regards their personal finances, particularly his comment that the ECB will continue to increase interest rates at its meeting next week and at the March meeting. Particularly for those whose interest rates increase automatically as a result of being linked to the ECB interest rate, this is a very frightening scenario. I am conscious of the reasons and rationale the Governor has laid out, which relate to inflation. I will ask him a particular question. To give one example, I know of one individual who is now paying €400 more in interest on their mortgage per month than they were in the summer of last year. That is €4,800 they are paying. Following the trajectory of where the Central Bank is likely to go next week and again in March, that increase will go well over €5,000 and may possibly reach €6,000. That family will be sitting around the table and asking where they are to get that extra €6,000 as against what they were paying last summer. It is a very daunting task for them and others. Some may be able to manage but many others will not. It is a massive increase. If we saw the annual cost of gas or electricity going up by €6,000, we would expect some type of action. It does not matter to these families whether it is the mortgage, the gas or the electricity. They are all bills that have to be met. Otherwise, there will be consequences. Is it the intention of the ECB and the Governor for the banks to pass on all of these interest rate increases, given that the reason they are being introduced is to target inflation? That is my first question.