Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This question relates to tracker mortgages. There is a real issue here. Having a tracker rate is enormously valuable to a mortgage holder. They could be paying 1.5% or 1.75% interest as opposed to somebody on a variable rate paying 4% or 4.5%. This makes a massive difference to the monthly mortgage payment they have to make. They are trapped where they are because even people with borrowing capacity will not move because they will lose their tracker which they simply cannot afford to lose. There should be a policy initiative that would allow people to keep their tracker on that portion of the mortgage so if they currently owe €100,000 to the bank and borrow an extra €100,000 to move to a bigger property, they will keep the tracker on the original portion. It would generate movement and activity. Young families are living in apartments on a tracker rate and are absolutely trapped. Even if they are on good incomes and want to move, they cannot afford to because they would lose the tracker. This is something that is not possible for most people.

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