Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will certainly examine that issue. I am not sure if it is possible for us to cap rate increases. Interest rates are set by the European Central Bank and not by the Government. Of course, banks and lenders are commercial entities and will set a rate that is above the ECB rate because they have to cover both their own costs and the fact some people are not able to repay, which means the cost of that has to be socialised. I appreciate that many people are seeing their mortgages go up and, pretty much every couple of weeks at this stage, are receiving letters from the bank stating that their monthly repayments are going up. That is particularly acute for people who have tracker mortgages. It is important to bear in mind, however, that in some of those cases people are now paying interest rates other people, who were not on tracker mortgages, were paying for quite some time. We need to also bear that in mind.

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