Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A point occurred to me which presents a challenge to governments, some more than others. To my mind, there is a possibility that the same rules do not seem to apply right across Europe. The costs are different. We are in the European Union and we have a Single Market, which is supposed to deliver in a particular way, but I do not know whether it does. There are exceptions to that. The rules are a bit selective in the way they apply. Let us look at what governments have to face now. They have increasing inflation, interest rates and mortgage repayments. We are told we cannot follow that with interest support for mortgage holders and so on. There is a difference between now and 25 or 30 years ago because the interest rate increase has a much bigger impact now on the householder than it did previously, as the cost of housing is a multiple of what it was before. What would the witnesses advise? The Government is being told it cannot increase day-to-day expenditure. There are warnings all over the place in policy and fiscal policy. At the same time, the consumer is faced with a very considerable increase in mortgage repayments, which is exacerbated by the interest rate increases that are still coming at us. Which way do we go? It is an issue because we could destabilise every country in several ways if we do not find the right way to deal with that situation.