I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that for many families the most significant financial outlay is their monthly mortgage payment. It has a huge impact and can create enormous pressure in their lives. We have a situation where over 300,000 households are on standard variable rate mortgages which clearly are exorbitant and exerting enormous pressure on their capacity to sustain their lives from a financial perspective. It is very clear that the rates being charged are far in excess of the cost of bank funds. A typical €200,000 standard variable rate mortgage holder, for example, is paying €6,000 more per year than a borrower with a tracker mortgage. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that this is simply unsustainable. Given that there is a figure of approximately €40 billion for standard variable rate mortgages, a 1% reduction in interest rates would equate to a benefit of an estimated €400 million to households across the country. Even a 0.5% reduction would equate to a benefit of around €200 million which would provide enormous relief for the families concerned. It would put issues such as the property tax and water rates in the ha'penny place in terms of the actual financial impact on such families who are the most hard-pressed in the country. It is very difficult to justify the high rates charged for standard variable rate mortgages when one looks at the cost of funds. AIB is charging a rate of 4.15%, while Bank of Ireland and permanent tsb are charging 4.5%, but the cost of funds is 1.64%, 1.15% and 1.74%, respectively. The variation is huge and in stark contrast with the rates in other eurozone countries. Customers in Ireland on the standard variable rate are paying up to 2% more than their counterparts in the eurozone. Banks which operate in both the Republic of Ireland and the North are charging their customers here on such mortgages 2% more than in Northern Ireland.

We raised this issue in a debate during Private Members' time over two weeks ago when our finance spokesperson, Deputy Michael McGrath, pressed the Minister strongly in what was a comprehensive and constructive presentation by our party, particularly in terms of providing solutions to the problem. However, the Government has not stepped up to the plate and there has been very little engagement on the issue. Essentially, the Government has given the banks free reign in how they operate and impact on customers. Has the Taoiseach met the banks specifically on this issue? Has the Economic Management Council raised it with the banks? From what we can see, it has not met the banks since 2012. What is the Government proposing to do to alleviate the enormous, unacceptable and unfair pressures on families?

I agree with the Deputy that their mortgage outlay is one of the principal issues they have to deal with every month. I also fully understand, from direct contact with so many people, the numbers who struggle to meet their mortgage repayments. Obviously, this is part of the legacy of the economic crisis of a number of years ago.

The Deputy asked if I had met the banks specifically on the issue. I have not. He is aware that the Government is not in a position to direct what interest rates should be; nor does it want to become the director of what they should be. However, it is not happy with the current position, given the emerging evidence that the reduction in the interest rates at which banks borrow money from their lenders has not been passed on to consumers. The Deputy will be aware of many of the reasons behind this.

On the one hand, the Government has been dealing with cases of mortgage distress and mortgage arrears which are causing difficulties for many and committed to bringing forward a range of measures to attempt in the next short period to deal with mortgages in long-term distress. The Minister for Finance met the Governor of the Central Bank to discuss the question of higher interest rates being charged on variable rate mortgages in Ireland. Both he and the Governor noted the lending charges to banks and the rates being charged to mortgage holders and the Central Bank has undertaken to do further work on the scale of what is involved and the justification of the banks for the higher rates being charged to Irish mortgage holders in comparison to their counterparts in the eurozone. That work will continue and, obviously, the Minister and the Government will monitor the position very closely.

I do not want to do anything that would interfere with the process or the principle of people being able to acquire mortgages at competitive interest rates in a situation where the banks have been normalised. The capacity to obtain a mortgage at a competitive interest rate has been a fundamental part of home acquisition and home ownership, to which people in Ireland legitimately aspire. The Deputy is quite right to raise the matter and it is one on which the Government is focused. There is, obviously, a requirement for it not to become the director of mortgage interest rate levels. That said, it has made its views very clearly known to the Governor of the Central Bank through the Minister for Finance.

That is the Government's line when it suits it, but in November 2011 the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, made much of the fact that he had persuaded AIB to reduce its rates by 0.25% following a cut by the ECB. When it suited, the Government sought to claim credit for putting pressure on a bank to reduce its interest rates. In addition, the last meeting between the Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister for Finance was routine, as I understand it, although during the debate during Private Members' time it was played up by the Fine Gael press office as a major initiative. In essence, both the Governor and the Minister "noted" that the variable rates charged in Ireland were higher than in other eurozone countries, which is hardly earth shattering to note. They then said research would continue. People observing this would say there is no justification, by any objective measurement, for standard variable rate customers having to pay such punitive interest rates in comparison with others. When average families look at what is happening with the banks, they see a clear truism emerging. Big companies and corporate entities are being given massive discounts on their loans, amounting to hundreds of millions of euro in some cases. Despite the recapitalisation of the banks and the substantial funds that have been made available to them, we read today about the vetoing of so many mortgage arrears settlement proposals under the personal insolvency regime. That, coupled with the position on standard variable rate mortgages, illustrates there is absolutely nothing for ordinary families. Nothing whatsoever has been done for them in the past few years.

They watch as others get €100 million per company in write downs or restructures and are asking a very basic question-----

It is a terrible injustice.

-----namely, who is intervening on behalf of the average customers of the banks, particularly those which are owned by the State. It appears to the ordinary punter that no one is intervening. The Government is certainly not doing so. Hence the need for the latter and the Irish Economic Management Council to, at a very minimum, meet representatives from the banks and put that fundamental issue to them.

Hear, hear.

Deputy Martin knows full well the situation that arose when these banks collapsed. He is also aware of the reasons for their collapse. He is further aware that the banks were restructured and that they were then recapitalised by the Irish taxpayer, not for their benefit but for that of their customers. I stated a couple of weeks ago that I am not happy with the situation whereby banks have not passed on to mortgage holders the lower interest rates from which they have benefited. AIB has passed on variable interest rate reductions to all its customers but other banks have not done so. The Minister for Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank met to review the position and the latter has undertaken to carry out further work in respect of this matter.

The statement of Government priorities recognises that promoting and encouraging competition among banks would be in the interests of the people. The Government established the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and the credit guarantee scheme and it also amended section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act.

I apologise for interrupting but did the Taoiseach state that AIB has passed on variable interest rate reductions to all its customers? It has not done so.

Yes, I stated that AIB had passed on reductions to all its variable standard rate customers. However, there is no impediment to further work being done in respect of this matter. I am not happy with the position.

It did not pass them on to those on the standard variable rate.

We are over time.

The Government is past its time.

As already stated, I am not happy with regard to the fact that the banks have not passed on the lower interest rates from which they have benefited. There is room for more work to be done. That is why we have taken the actions to which I refer and why the Minister met directly with the Governor of the Central Bank. The Government is not in a position to direct the interest rates which should obtain. Clearly, the banks have a moral duty to pass on the lower interest rates from which they benefit.

What did AIB pass on?

It is not fair, just or equitable that Irish consumers are being charged higher interest on variable rate mortgages than their counterparts elsewhere in the eurozone.

If that is the case, the Government should do something about it.

The Taoiseach is at the wheel.

That is why the Government and the Governor of the Central Bank are focused directly-----

Focused on what?

-----on carrying out further work in this area.

The Government is not focused, it is like Bambi in the headlights.

Paddy wants to know why the Government is doing nothing.

AIB did not pass anything on. Perhaps the Taoiseach will correct the record.