Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Funeral directors are to be congratulated on the work they do at an important time for people who lose loved ones.

I raise an issue to which Senator Mulherin referred earlier in the week regarding the passive and A-rated houses that are being built throughout the country. I am calling on the Central Bank to relax the multiplier for mortgages, particularly in the context of A-rated and passive houses. As Senator Mulherin pointed out, the electricity and heating costs of some of those houses can be as low as €100 per year, therefore, a person with an A-rated or a passive house has extra capacity to make additional payments. The Central Bank has got to look at this issue and relax the multiplier rule in respect of the amount of money a person can borrow in order to buy a house. It makes absolute sense that a person who buys an A-rated house as opposed to someone who buys a house that has extensive and expensive heating and electricity charges has extra money to pay back a loan to buy a passive house. That is the way forward. Those are the types of houses that the Government and those involved in taking climate action are proposing. That is the way the building industry has gone. The Central Bank is behind the times in this regard. It is putting undue pressure on people who cannot get the money to buy homes. Builders have a problem building houses for a price people can pay. I am calling on the Central Bank to relax the multiplier in respect of people who are buying A-rated or passive houses.