Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá costais morgáiste ardaithe ag na mílte úinéirí tí mar thoradh ar ardú na rátaí úis atá feicthe le cúpla mí anuas. Éireoidh sé níos measa sna míonna atá amach romhainn de réir mar a mhéadaíonn rátaí trasna an bhoird agus de réir mar a bhíonn oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ag déileáil leis an ngéarchéim costais maireachtála. Tá tacaíocht agus faoiseamh morgáiste de dhíth orthu.

For homeowners, the cost-of-living crisis has opened up a new front, as mortgage-interest rates continue to rise. The European Central Bank, ECB, increased its key interest rate which took effect yesterday and a further hike expected is next month. As we know, retail banks have not yet passed on ECB rate hikes in full, but it is widely expected that rates will rise significantly across the board in the coming months.

For others, the impact has been immediate and severe. The tens of thousands of homeowners who had their mortgages sold off to vulture funds were time and again given assurances by Government Ministers that they had nothing to worry about. The Taoiseach told them they would be no worse off while the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform went so far as to say that he would be happy for his own mortgage to be sold off to a vulture fund. These assurances were naïve in the extreme back then and they have proven to be completely false.

My party and I warned of this years ago. Now the tens of thousands of borrowers whose loans are held by vulture funds are now at the sharp edge of these interest rate hikes. Many of them are facing interest rates as high as 7.5%. They are paying as much as €400 more per month in interest than they would be paying had their mortgages not been sold off. They have no option to switch or to fix their rate. They describe themselves as mortgage prisoners with nowhere to turn.

One homeowner contacted me whose mortgage was sold by Permanent TSB to Start Mortgages. She is a full-time carer for her son, who has cerebral palsy. By January she had received four letters each informing her of a further rate increase. She will be paying over €4,000 in additional interest this year, with further hikes down the line, with the hike that took effect yesterday and the one that is planned for March. She said that hikes across the board are barely sustainable, but to have the constant fear every month of the next increase coming and how to finance the previous month's increase, is inhumane.

Many households face this reality. They have received as many as five letters through the door and will receive a sixth next month, when the ECB hikes its rates again. As banks increase their interest rates in the coming months, thousands more households will face higher mortgage costs. For many this is breaking point.

Being able to pay the mortgage is just as important as being able to pay the rent or the energy bill. The alternatives are just as serious: arrears, increased debt and financial hardship. Sinn Féin has called on the Government to introduce targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support homeowners who are and will face spiralling interest and mortgage costs. The Minister for Finance has rejected this proposal; he is wrong to do so.

Fianna Fáil campaigned in the 2016 general election to extend mortgage interest relief when rates for many were half what they are now for those whose mortgages are in the hands of the vultures. So I am asking, will the Government introduce targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support these homeowners who are now paying up to 7.5% interest into the hands of vulture funds and will be paying 8% when the ECB increases its interest rate within four weeks?

 

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