Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

They do not appear to be overly deprived and seem to manage. I accept that expectations are higher. The potential problem with mortgages concerns future increases in interest rates. This is where real concerns may arise. Financial institutions are supposed to conduct stress tests. However, I have heard rumours — I do not have the facts — that they do not perform stress tests as thoroughly as they should in all cases. The danger is that if interest rates rise, people could encounter difficulties in cases in which stress tests were not conducted properly, if take home pay remained static and the economy weakened. However, it is hard to cope with a situation in which the economy powers ahead in tandem with such high demand. We now face an entirely different world. I do not use words like "crisis".

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