Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will return to the issue of home ownership. We are all aware that those who aspire to own their homes, and are simply being priced out of being able to do so, are being failed by current Government policy. We all hear from constituents, young and old but particularly those from the younger generation, who cannot afford to buy their own homes and see no prospect of doing so, or of ever being able even to aspire to home ownership here and are looking at emigration as a result. Another group of people, who are already homeowners, are also being failed by current Government policy. These are homeowners who, because of interest rates, are seeing their monthly outgoings on mortgage repayments rising by hundreds of euro every month, with more interest rate hikes in prospect. People despair of being able to budget effectively for their household bills because of this increased outgoing they face every month. They are in homeownership but despair of being able to meet mortgage repayments and are very fearful of what the future holds, if they are not on fixed rates.

Will the Taoiseach consider adopting the proposal of my colleague, Deputy Nash, to cap mortgage rate hikes, and introduce legislation to do so, in order to offer something to that squeezed middle?

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