The programme for Government contains a commitment in respect of ensuring that sufficient supports will be in place for mortgage holders who have repayment difficulties. I am conscious of all of the Taoiseach's commentary on this matter while he was a member of the Opposition. The Government of the Central Bank and the European Banking Authority have clarified that interest does not have to be charged on 80,000 mortgages where a payment break has been taken due to Covid-19, once the amount concerned is less than 1% of the entire interest bill. Other European countries have acted on this and put in place certain strategies, including interest and payment breaks, etc., as, over the life of a mortgage, significant costs of thousands of euro can be added.

We will move a motion in Private Members' time tonight by means of which we are seeking to stop the banks from imposing penalties and surcharges. Given the statements from the Central Bank and the European Banking Authority, as well as clarifications and comments from the Taoiseach and colleagues on similar concerns, what is the immediate plan of the Government to ensure mortgage holders will not be met with thousands of euro in excess charges? How will it prevent this from happening?

The European Banking Authority has clarified the matter of application of interest in cases of payment breaks that people have received from banks. It is worth pointing out that approximately 140,000 payment breaks have been issued in respect of approximately 78,000 mortgages. These are popular initiatives and many people have availed of them and found them very helpful. The Minister for Finance will now engage with the banks on this latest clarification from the European Banking Authority and the comments of the Governor of the Central Bank. The key issue with existing banking rules was to ensure the creditworthiness of individuals was not impaired by availing of these particular schemes. Another key principle was that banks would not profit from these forbearance measures. The Minister for Finance will engage actively on this matter and is reviewing it in light of the statements.

As there are no Deputies present from either the Social Democrats or Solidarity, the next speaker will be Deputy Denis Naughten.