Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If any person has a problem with a 4% interest rate, that person should reconsider buying a house.

I would much prefer to have a lower principal and higher interest rate than to have it the other way round. The suggestion has been made that property investors are doing well, but property investors have been losing money for the past decade and are still losing money, because the amounts they are receiving for their properties is less than what they owe to the banks. Therefore, they should not be criticised in that regard.

One would be forgiven tonight for thinking that this is just a Dáil for Dublin. I feel I represent the whole country, but there has been no mention of the other counties. Housing is as important an issue in Cork and Donegal as it is in Dublin.

See this speech in context