Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister talks about security and certainty. He has his head firmly in the sand. I gave him examples, including that of the single mother whose mortgage interest rate has increased by €8,400 per annum and the taxi driver whose interest rate has increased by €5,000. The Central Bank has stated that one in every five mortgage holders across the State will see an interest rate hike of €4,800. That is before we figure in today's interest rate hike and the increase in May. That is the reality. What the Government has done is nothing. The Minister spewed figures about new mortgages but there are 750,000 existing mortgages. The ECB states that in Ireland, the figures are 53% higher than the European average. That is the reality.

Since December, we in Sinn Féin, the Opposition party, have been putting forward proposals in respect of a tailored and targeted measure to support mortgage holders dealing with high interest costs.

The Government has come up blank. It has said to wait until October and it may do something. These families, the single mother, the taxi person and the people whose loans the Government allowed banks to sell to vulture funds are being charged 8% and 9%. The Government is telling them to hold on until October and that it might do something at that stage. That is not acceptable.

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