Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

During the course of the ECOFIN meeting, did Ministers have opportunities to discuss, formally or otherwise, the prospect of rising interest rates in Europe and, in particular, the problem that such a situation poses for economies such as Ireland's, where there are high levels of personal indebtedness and mortgage debt? A 1% interest rate increase over the next year will have disastrous implications for the personal budgets of many young families, for example, in the case of couples with 100% mortgages costing €600,000.

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