Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The teaching unions and the Minister for Education and Skills appear to be at odds with each other. I hope this problem will be rectified in the near future. Both sides have moved a considerable distance and I hope they will move the rest of the way.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on a scandal in the banking system. It appears a small number of mortgage holders, primarily those aged in their 40s and over who bought houses 15 years ago or thereabouts, are carrying the burden of returning the banks to profitability by paying interest rates that are as much as 4.2% higher than the rates paid by those with tracker mortgages. The overall cost of this discrepancy to the mortgage holder can be as much as €650 per month in repayments, which is a scandal. We must remember that all those who are paying mortgages, irrespective of when they took them out, are subject to pay cuts, tax increases, property taxes and water charges. One section of society is, if one likes, carrying the banking system on its shoulders, while another pays tracker rates. I am not arguing that the latter group is doing anything wrong. Tracker mortgages were a marketing ploy that worked well. However, we must act now to correct this problem, given that, as I stated, the difference in the interest rate paid by the holder of a tracker mortgage and the holder of a variable rate mortgage can be as high as 4.2%. I would appreciate it if the Leader were to arrange an urgent debate on this matter to highlight it in the public domain and encourage further discussion.