Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about this very important matter. Banks, of course, never lose. When they did, the Government bailed them out with taxpayers' money. When people put their money into the banks, they get very little interest for it. In fact, if they leave it there long enough, it depreciates in value. People with mortgages are suffering. I am adding to the pleas for an interest relief scheme to help those people.

The Government could help more with the costs of electricity and running a car. It should do something about the cost of electricity but it is not. If a young couple or anyone else is building a house, more than one third of the cost goes into levies, services and VAT on materials. The banks make it very hard for couples to get mortgages in the first place, yet, the Government has shares in the bank. How is it the Government cannot talk to the banks and help the people it represents?

I will tell the story of a young man, Tim Brosnan, who built his house about a year and a half ago. He built it as per regulations and had to put in an air-to-water system. He is on to me every day about the cost of electricity. He is paying €1,200-odd in each bill to cover the cost of his heat pump. It is absolutely ridiculous. He says he has no bother coping with the mortgage but this cost is beating him. He goes out in the dark, comes home in the dark and still cannot make it work. It is easy for him to tell that solid fuel, whether it is oil, turf or timber, is still the cheaper and better option for the people who are suffering. I ask the Government to do something to help people because these regulations are crippling them.

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