Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

People are struggling to pay bills and for the basics. Luxuries are something they look forward to in the future. For now, however, it is about surviving from paycheque to paycheque. People I have spoken to on the doors want the Minister to introduce targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support homeowners facing significant increases in their mortgages. They want fairness and a change. Sinn Féin has committed to introduce mortgage interest relief for principal private residents, equivalent to 30% of the increase in interest rates relative to June 2022, with a maximum benefit per household of €1,500.

What galls people is the massive increase in bank profits. The Irish Times wrote last week that with less than two months to the 15th anniversary of Brian Cowen's Government being forced to guarantee the Irish banking system to prevent its collapse, the two largest surviving players in the market are making the types of profits last seen during the property boom. Last week, AIB said that its net profit had jumped by 79% to €854 million, turbocharged by the ECB hiking official interest rates. Was it not a cracking deal for the private banking system all the same? Sinn Féin will increase the banking levy and we will use the proceeds from that to increase supports for households through the introduction of temporary and targeted mortgage interest relief.

The same banks that are making billions again threw many of their former customers to the vultures. Some 78,000 of those customers are paying exorbitant interest rates as high as 10%. Sinn Féin will commit to developing a clear plan to facilitate the reintegration of mortgage holders with loans held by vulture funds into the mainstream mortgage market. People say they want change but, unfortunately, if they were listening to this debate and the Minister’s speech, they will realise that he is not listening.

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