Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State. His reply very much focused on the climate of reducing interest rates we are now in. As I said in my initial remarks, this is very welcome and exactly why it is important to raise this point now. The Minister of State referred to the ECB reducing interest rates on eight occasions since last summer, and again this is all very welcome. The ECB covers the entire EU, though, so this begs the question as to why Ireland is still higher on average than the rest of the EU in terms of interest rates. As I said, we are the fifth highest, albeit with progress having been made. The Minister of State repeated the figures I gave in relation to the April figures. For new entrants into the mortgage market for new mortgages, 3.72% is our average, whereas the EU average is 3.34%. This is approximately 0.4 percentage points of a difference per month, and on a mortgage of €300,000 represents a difference of more than €100 per month in repayments. It is a significant difference for mortgage holders across this country.

Why are we outliers in Europe in relation to our mortgage interest rates? Despite the fact we have reduced the difference and the disparity, we need to continue this pressure. I accept the Minister does not have a direct role in this; of course I do. As we know, however, mortgage interest rates have been debated over and over again in this House and across this Parliament over many years. This pressure has been applied and has made a difference. I want to raise this matter now and it is timely to do so. While we are in a climate of reducing interest rates, we need to reduce the differential between Irish mortgage interest rates and EU mortgage interest rates. This is something in which the Government has a role to play indirectly in terms of highlighting the issues and reminding the banks of their responsibilities to Irish citizens to ensure they give the best possible value for money and that we are more in line with EU averages.

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