Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I recall that when the Minister introduced the extra mortgage interest relief in the budget in December, he told us it would compensate for the increase in interest costs on a typical mortgage. Mortgage costs had risen in October and have gone up again since he made that announcement in December, and the bulk, if not all, of the extra interest relief has been absorbed by both interest rate increases. Will the Minister comment on that? Has he excluded the October increases from the effect on an average family? He seems to be playing with the statistics.

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