Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. Can I begin by welcoming Senator Dearey to the House? I wish him well in his role as a Senator. I pay tribute also to Déirdre de Búrca who is no longer a Member. She was a fine Senator and a very good colleague.

I raise the issue of Allied Irish Banks raising its interest rate by 0.5%, leaving the gates wide open to other lenders to do the same. I have raised this issue consistently in this House. There are thousands of families who have been thrown out on the side of the street by the vultures in our banking system. People who could not wait to make enough money during the economic boom are now inflicting the worst form of turmoil on any family in terms of their possessions, that is, throwing them out on the side of the street. It is not good enough that the taxpayer is bailing out that bank to the tune of €3.5 billion. It has reported record losses and it is now turning on the hard-pressed mortgage payer. I repeat a statistic I mentioned here about three weeks ago. An increase of 0.5%on a €200,000 mortgage is approximately €60 per month extra on a family. That is a good deal of money for some people to come by. It is vulgar, disgusting and abhorrent that this Government is allowing the banking system to get away with that type of vulgarity.