Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support my colleague, Senator Swanick, in what he has just said. It is a serious issue. I have also received contacts from concerned people in Roscommon with regard to the Cuisle issue. It needs to be addressed and the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, needs to come to the House to address some of those concerns.

I wish to raise the issue of today's commentary from the Central Bank around mortgage lending in the Irish market and the fact that Irish retail banks continue to overcharge for mortgages. According to European compiled data, our retail mortgage market is the fourth most costly in the EU, after only Romania, Hungary and Poland, which are essentially emerging markets. Our average mortgage rate is approximately 2.96%. This is way more expensive than mortgages in most other European countries. That average does not really tell the full story because new entrants to the mortgage market since the crash are getting rates of approximately 4.5%. If a young couple is looking for a mortgage of €300,000 from AIB, which would come at a rate of 4.5%, they will pay €1,520 a month over a 30-year period. The cost of servicing that loan will be €247,000; let us just call it €250,000. Will that house be worth that amount of money in 30 years? We can only speculate. We do not know. If the bank was to offer a rate of 2.25%, which would still allow it to make a profit according to the Central Bank, the interest over the lifetime of the mortgage would be reduced to €112,000. That is a difference of €135,000 to the individual over 30 years, or a difference of €374 in monthly repayments.

We have to get real here. The ways banks are allowed to operate in Ireland is absolutely disgraceful. They are getting away with murder. They are charging double the interest they need to make a profit on new entrants to the mortgage market. While the Central Bank criticises this, it is standing idly by. I would like to see us use a Thursday to have the Governor of the Central Bank come before the Seanad to discuss some of these issues. I ask the Leader whether that is possible. If not, I request the presence of the Minister for Finance in the Chamber to discuss this issue. There are many factors affecting the housing crisis. This is only one of them. Young people are going to get themselves involved in a 30-year mortgage, the repayments on which they may not be able to meet over the years. The banks will swoop in, take the house, and sell the loan to a vulture fund. This is what they are doing and they are getting away with it. We need to discuss this. We need to regulate in this area and to ensure that the Central Bank acts on existing regulations.