Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister spoke about scarce resources, but people will be mindful that the budget’s surplus is predicted to be €10 billion this year. While the Minister is speaking about October as a time to take decisions, a letter is about to land next week on the floors of hundreds of thousands of individuals to tell them that their mortgage costs have risen again.

The Central Bank’s report last week was really important because it told us that on average 20% of homeowners have seen their mortgage interest rates increase by €4,800. That was before the ECB hike of last week. It was before any potential other hikes. People are telling us that they feel trapped, they feel abandoned and that they are paying €523 per month extra. That is more than €6,000 per year. Yet, the Minister is saying that he may consider this an October. The Government has a responsibility to shelter people who have seen a sudden and sharp shock in their income.

Many of them did not plan for an additional €5,000 or €6,000. Mortgage interest relief is not a way of insulating people from all the effects of this but it will take off the sharp edge. Is the Minister open, even in October, to introducing mortgage interest relief? He championed it in opposition but conveniently found a way to abandon these households at this point and to wash his hands of them.

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