Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Inniu, táthar ag dréim go n-ardóidh an Banc Ceannais Eorpach rátaí úis don seachtú huair ó bhí mí Iúil ann. Tiocfaidh sé seo mar bhuille eile do na mílte teaghlaigh. Is é anois an t-am chun faoiseamh úis mhorgáiste a thabhairt isteach chun tacú leis na teaghlaigh seo. Today the European Central Bank is widely expected to increase interest rates again. This would be the seventh time it has done so since July. This will come as a hammer blow to hundreds of thousands of families. It will immediately affect those 250,000 families and households with a mortgage on a tracker rate and it will hit the pockets of tens of thousands of households whose mortgages have been sold to vulture funds. Many of these households are being charged interest rates as high as 8%. They are now set to receive the seventh letter through the post informing them of a further rate hike and a further increase in their monthly mortgage repayments. This all comes at a time of great financial pressure for these families who are already being squeezed and whose finances are being stretched by a cost-of-living crisis, with the rise in food prices, transport costs and energy bills all bearing down heavily on them.

Last week, we heard from the Central Bank that one in five households are seeing their mortgage repayments increase by €400 per month. This is €5,000 per year. A borrower who recently reached out to me told me that her mortgage repayments had increased by €523 per month. This is an increase of more than €6,000 per year. Another person reached out to me to voice her desperation. Her loan was sold a number of years ago to a vulture fund. She has seen her interest rate increase time and time again. She said "I'm so stressed by this. My mental health is suffering. I have young children and I'm trapped in this cycle."

Last week, Sinn Féin brought a motion before this House calling for the introduction of targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support struggling families with rising mortgage costs. The proposal we put forward was a scheme that would absorb 30% of the rise in mortgage costs with a maximum benefit for households of up to €1,500. It was a sensible proposal that would make a real difference to countless families out there and take the sharp edge off the sudden and significant spike in interest rates these workers and families are facing.

It was a mistake for the Government to reject this proposal. The Government has claimed that it cannot act until the budget in October. Can I remind the Tánaiste that in the past number of weeks, his Government has announced tax changes on petrol, diesel and solar panels and tax changes for the hospitality and tourism sector and has removed levies for developers? All of this is outside the normal budget cycle at a cost of hundreds of millions of euro. Therefore, the argument that nothing can be done to support these families in the here and now with rising mortgage costs before October is simply a nonsense. As mortgage costs soar for hundreds of thousands of struggling households, the State can and should step in to support them and give them that type of relief. Now is not the time for excuses. Now is the time for action. Now is the time to be on the side of mortgage holders and to give them relief. As we see the cost to mortgage holders to keep a roof over their heads increase, people paying 8% - a figure that will increase after today's decision - and people being charged thousands of euro more than this time last year, will the Government finally introduce temporary and targeted mortgage interest relief, as Sinn Féin has proposed, to provide much-needed support for them? If it does not do so, what will it say to those families? What is it going to do? What type of relief will it offer, or will it just wash its hands and abandon them?

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