Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I dtosach báire, ba mhaith liom cur leis an rún a chuir mo chomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Ó Dómhnaill os comhair an tSeanaid. I second Senator Ó Domhnaill's proposal. I also welcome the farmers outside Leinster House. The contribution of the agriculture and food industries is key to our success. In turn, their success depends on the negotiated CAP outcomes achieved by the Minister, Deputy Coveney.

I wish to discuss my colleague's proposal on mortgage interest rates. It is disgraceful that State-owned banks are putting in place what is effectively a property tax on borrowers with variable interest rates. The Government is allowing them to run rampant. AIB's rate is 4% and Bank of Ireland's is 4.5%. People are crying out for the Government's assistance. Fine Gael specifically committed to reducing variable mortgage interest rates by 0.5% by gaining efficiencies in the banks, but the Government has put no effort into that commitment. It is time it did something about the issue. This is just one of a number of promises in election manifestos and the programme for Government that have been abandoned without a care in the world. It is another property tax on families. The programme for Government refers to a site valuation tax, doing everything possible for those in negative equity and so on, but nothing along those lines seems to be happening.