Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister talks about the interest rate in terms of new mortgages, and I do not dispute his facts, but will he acknowledge, when all outstanding Irish mortgages are taken into account, that they are significantly higher than the European average? In December, they were 2.88% while the European average was 1.89%. Ireland's mortgages are actually much higher than the European average. Some 251,000 borrowers with tracker mortgages have been directly exposed to the ECB rate hikes. A mortgage holder with an outstanding balance of €200,000 will see his or her interest cost increased by €3,500 over 12 months. A quarter of those on variable mortgage rates will likely see an increase in their interest cost in the month ahead. Households whose mortgages were sold to vulture funds this year, which the Minister is well aware of, are seeing their interest rates being hiked, suddenly and sharply, as high as 7.5%. Some of them are paying over €6,000 and €7,000 more per annum. Many others are paying between €4,000 or €5,000. They have no option to fix. They have no option to switch. They are effectively trapped. The Government has not brought forward-----

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