Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táthar ag súil ar maidin go n-ardódh an Banc Ceannais Eorpach a ráta úis arís faoi 0.75 pointe céatadáin eile. Sin méadú de dhá phointe céatadáin ó mhí iúil, agus beidh tionchar láithreach ag an ardú seo ar theaghlaigh a bhfuil morgáiste rianúcháin acu, le go leor ag feiceáil a gcuid aisíocaíochta ag ardú le €2,000 i gcomparáid le tús na bliana. Tá sé in am anois dearcadh arís ar fhaoiseamh ús morgáiste.

The Tánaiste will know that workers and families are struggling and that prices are rising and spilling over into every part of household budgets. The European Central Bank is expected today to raise interest rates again by another three quarters of a percentage point. That is a two percentage point increase since July of this year and it will have an immediate impact on households on tracker mortgages. Such a household with an outstanding balance of €200,000 would see its annual payment increase by more than €2,000 compared with the start of this year. For other mortgage holders, the decision rests with their banks as to whether they will pass these interest rate hikes on to their customers or absorb them.

Our position in Sinn Féin is clear. Banks should absorb these interest rate hikes in the interests of their customers. The banks are in a good position to do so and to do the right thing. In the first half of this year, Bank of Ireland and AIB had combined profits of €950 million. They have increased their market share since and have continued dividend payments to shareholders this year and, as the Central Bank made clear in May of this year, "Profitability in the banking sector has recovered and is set to be bolstered" as a result of rising interest rates. The Central Bank went further, noting that Irish banks were positioned to increase their profits more than other European banks as a result of rising interest rates. According to the banks' own estimates, these interest rate hikes could bolster their interest income by more than €1 billion each year.

Let us be clear: interest rate hikes announced by the ECB provide a bonanza for Irish banks. The financial outlook and position of our banks is strong, while for households it is not. Those on variable rates are at the mercy of these banks and the decisions they will make in the coming weeks and months. Their decisions could increase the mortgage repayments of households by thousands of euro. These households are already struggling to make ends meet. Banks need to do the right thing. They need to not pass on these interest rate hikes and they need to make that clear to their customers. Families have spent the past year looking at their household budgets. They are planning how best they can manage to get through the winter and into the coming year. However, no household could have anticipated that the cost of their mortgage would increase by this much and so quickly.

Will the Tánaiste join me in calling on the banks to do the right thing and not to pass these interest rate hikes on to households, which are already struggling under immense financial pressures? The Tánaiste will know that those on tracker mortgages will automatically see these rate hikes passed on to them, just as the previous two rate hikes have been passed on to them since July. These households cannot be expected to shoulder an additional burden of more than €2,000 per year in mortgage costs without the State and without the Government exploring every possible avenue to support them. Will the Tánaiste therefore commit to examining options to introduce targeted, tailored and time-bound mortgage interest relief to those who are most heavily impacted as a result of interest rate hikes announced by the ECB?

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