Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are calling for the introduction of time-limited mortgage interest relief for homeowners hit by interest rate increases. It is a sensible, affordable and necessary measure aimed at supporting homeowners facing significant increases in their mortgage costs, and they are significant. One of my constituents is a young self-employed woman whose husband was working up to a year ago, suffered a stroke at the age of 37 and is now on illness benefit. They have two children, one of whom has additional needs for whom they are paying privately to get extra support. Their mortgage has gone from €1,198 to €1,559, an increase of almost €400. She sought assistance but there is none for people struggling to pay their mortgage. There is assistance for those in arrears but there is none for those who are paying a mortgage with difficulty. She has tried to restructure the mortgage and has reached out to other mortgage providers. Hopefully, something will break for her but she is not the only one. There are others whose mortgage repayments have increased by hundreds of euro per month on top of the increase in the cost of food, fuel and electricity.

We are going to add to our homeless figures because we are going to see homeowners lose their homes because of an inability to pay their mortgages. One woman whose mortgage has practically doubled is seriously considering selling but I do not know where she is going to go after that because there is nowhere to rent. She cannot put up with the stress of trying to make ends meet. Something has to be done to assist households such as these. They are at breaking point.

There is no rational or reasonable argument that we do not have the ability to do this. It was forecast in the most recent stability programme update that there will be a general Government surplus of in excess of €10 billion this year. I listened to the Minister pick holes in the wording of the motion. We need action here. We need the Government to do the right thing to help these struggling homeowners. They need action rather than just words. It is not a political issue and should not be a political issue. It should not be about who is doing the right thing or who is doing the wrong thing. If we do not do the right thing by these homeowners, they will lose their homes.

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