Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, I have not given up at all on standard variable mortgage interest rates. I stand by the point of view I expressed earlier that, from any moral point of view, where banks are able to borrow at much lower rates now that they have been restructured, and restructured in the interests of the people and not for the banks' facilities, that they should bear that in mind in terms of the lending rates they allow for their customers.

It is not true to say that banks have not moved at all; there has been some movement from the banks. The Deputy is well aware that the Minister met all the banks and they were to respond by 1 July. Some have made some movement about having fixed rates of interest, others have made some moves about cash-back for customers, there has been a reduction in interest rates, admittedly by a small amount, in respect of some others, and some new products and new facilities have been made available. That, however, does not deal with the difficulty that hard-pressed families have every week and every month in trying to meet what are much higher interest rates applicable here to variable mortgages than apply elsewhere.

In respect of legislation, I said that legislation would be introduced if the Central Bank required it; if the Central Bank requested legislation to be able to deal with this, then the Government would respond to that request. The Central Bank has said that it does not require legislation of this nature. The position is that the Minister has received a report form the Governor of the Central Bank. The officials in the Department of Finance are now looking at the outcome of the meetings the Minister had with all the banks and their deadline of 1 July and there will be a follow-up meeting with all the banks prior to the budget in October. I have already said to the Deputy that the option remains for the Minister for Finance, in the absence of any real movement from the banks, to take further action in the budget in October and he has already put that on the public record. Far from removing ourselves from the 300,000 people who are paying excessive variable mortgage interest rates, the pressure is still on here.

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