Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Hundreds of thousands of families will hear in the next hour or so that their mortgages are going up. They have just listened to the Tánaiste and have heard nothing on direct supports from him. His backbenchers will brief the media that the Government is considering this and so on but the leader of the party is still not saying that the Government is willing to intervene and provide direct supports for mortgage holders. That is a crazy situation.

People are already paying 8% interest rates. It will go up after today and is likely to go up further but we have a Government that is washing its hands and abandoning these mortgage holders. The Tánaiste’s party championed the idea of mortgage interest relief at a time when mortgage interest rates were a fraction of what they are now. Families are paying €5,000 and €6,000 more. Listen to the testimony. These people are locked in a cycle affecting their mental health. The Central Bank is telling us that more families are going to drop into arrears. What is the Government offering? Free childcare and free schoolbooks. We are asking for direct intervention for mortgage holders. We are asking for a response that is time limited and targeted. We have put our proposals on the table as far back as last year; the Government is coming up with nothing. People are pleading for action. Is the Government considering any direct support for mortgage holders as a result of this cost-of-living crisis, which has seen interest rates increase seven times in the last seven or eight months?

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