Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of mortgages and payment breaks. While we support the Labour Party motion, I know that it does not deal with the issue of payment breaks. It talks instead about penalties as opposed to interest and about mortgage arrears as opposed to payment breaks. In payment breaks, one does not accrue mortgage arrears. I think its spirit is in that line, given what Deputy Nash said. I welcome that this is now getting more coverage.

Before me I have a letter from Permanent TSB to a customer who availed of a three month payment break. The cost of the person's mortgage will increase by more than €7,700 as a result of that three month break. If he goes for an extension to six months, it will skyrocket further. This is not the first time that I have put this on the agenda of this House. I raised it with the Minister for Finance in April. I have produced legislation on this and gave it to the Minister for Finance three weeks ago. Yesterday was not the first time that we learned about it. Maybe it was the first time that others learned of it. This is not the way that it has to be done in this State because we know from the Central Bank's correspondence to me that one does not have to charge interest rates, loans will not go into default and it will not trigger a credit mechanism, because we can see what happened in Spain at the end of March and what Belgium and Germany did. They were able to protect their citizens from the attacks by banks charging interest rates. This is the time for Government to stand up, particularly with banks that we own, and lay down a rule that banks will not be allowed to profit on the back of this pandemic, at a time when Government rightly had to close down our economy to keep our people safe. It is not acceptable for banks to say that it is the time for them to feather their nests, fill their pockets and charge more for such people. A bank is charging €7,700 extra because a person's income was slashed during the pandemic and a State-owned bank sees it as an opportunity. It is time for every single Minister, with their Cabinet responsibility, to stand up and do the right thing.

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