Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the action he is taking to ensure that local authorities pass on cuts to mortgages interest rates to their mortgage holders. [43048/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Interest rates charged to local authority borrowers are determined by the Board of the Housing Finance Agency (HFA). In determining these rates, the Board of the Agency gives careful consideration to the fluctuating relationship between the rates at which it can borrow and its lending rates. The HFA is required to operate on a break-even basis and continues to provide extremely good value to local authority customers.

I am acutely conscious that a considerable number of local authority borrowers are facing difficulties in meeting their mortgage payments. However, local authority borrowers have benefited from very significant easing of mortgage costs in recent years. The effective rate for local authority borrowers is 2.75%. This has resulted in a differential of almost 1.5% between the rate charged to local authority borrowers and the average variable rate available from private lending institutions.