Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It will last until December, until the end of the year. It is based on a reference rate, which is June of last year. The State would absorb 30% of the portion of the increased interest since June of last year. The beneficiaries would be people who would have seen increased interest rates since June of last year, which is a result of the ECB hikes. The State would not take on all of the liability - we are not arguing for that – but would take on 30%. There is a massive shock for families. Many of these families are paying €5,000 more now in interest than they were last June. There is a responsibility on the State to try to cushion the shock.

Would it be far better if the banks did not pass on the interest rate? Of course, it would. Would it be far better if the vultures did not do it? Of course, it would. Can the Government tell the vultures to set the rates that the vultures are charging? It cannot. That is why we argued against what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were doing a couple of years ago, which was facilitating the sale of these loans to the vultures. We made it clear. I sat here in this chair and said there is nothing to stop the vultures from increasing interest rates. That risk is happening now, when everybody before was saying, “You will be no worse off”. There is a plan here. I understand we requested that the Parliamentary Budget Office would publish the costings - we asked it to cost this proposal. I understand from my communication from its officials that it will be published this evening. This is a sensible project.

On the redress scheme, when the Minister’s party members sat at Cabinet tables the last time they were in government, they knew there was illegal charging. That should not have happened. Of course we make the point that those individuals need to be redressed. Let me be clear about this as well. There is no doubt that the Government will have to establish a redress for people who had their disability payments taken from them and those in nursing homes and community settings who were also denied their payments. That is very clear. There is a legal entitlement for them to have that, so a fair redress scheme has to be established. Again, it is a one-off payment and it is cleaning up the mess that Fianna Fáil created the last time it was in government. Its party leader sat around a Cabinet table and was told that there was not a legal leg to stand on in this regard. We should not be in a position ten years on, where we are mopping up a scenario that Fianna Fáil should have dealt with at that time.

Let us get back to this issue, which is that people are struggling. I recognise that the Minister acknowledged the interest rates that they are paying. Of course, this has to be seen in the round. It has to be part of the cost-of-living package. The reason people are seeing interest rates at the level they are now is, in the main, because of the war in Ukraine. There are other issues that are pushing up inflation also. However, the primary driver for inflation that the ECB is trying to respond to is the illegal invasion by Putin and his armies into Ukraine. This response has to be set in that context. The same way that we need to support families with energy costs, motorists with petrol and diesel costs and social welfare recipients with cost-of-living measures, mortgage holders who are paying 7.5%, which will be 8%, also need support. Those who have seen their interest rates increase by €5,000 in the past year need to see some support to help them with the shock of these payments.

I will let the Minister respond to this. The problem is that the Minister dismissed this. He said that he is not looking at it. We put a proposal forward and the Minister is dismissing it. It is independently costed. What will the Minister do? Forget about me. He is the Minister for Finance. What will he do? These people are being fleeced and robbed. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael allowed these individuals to have their loans sold to the vultures. They were told straight out that these vultures would increase interest rate costs. Now, the Minister cries crocodile tears as people are being fleeced by those some people they handed over those loans to. He is Minister for Finance now and he has a responsibility to act. There is no point in writing a letter to the Governor of the Central Bank asking if he wants powers when, in 2017, he said does not want the powers. Even if he gets the powers, he will not use them. That is off the table. What will the Minister, in his role as Minister for Finance, do to try to assist these individuals today?