Mortgage holders could be facing extra mortgage charges of €1,000 per year as interest rates rise. This is the latest part of the cost of living crisis. We hear from the CSO that inflation has hit 7%, making this the sharpest cost of living crisis and squeeze for ordinary people since the 1980s. Irish banks are already charging the second highest rates for mortgages in the eurozone, with average borrowers paying €2,000 more per year than their counterparts in other European countries. These are the same banks that were bailed out by the public and are now again hugely profitable. This is profiteering, pure and simple and it should be stopped.

The Government is pushing ahead with privatisation of AIB when the banking sector should be brought into public ownership and run on a democratic, not-for-profit basis as a public utility. Will the Government, at the very least, act now to empower the Central Bank to cap the interest rates that can be charged for mortgage holders?

In case Deputy Murphy had not noticed, a large number of banks are leaving the country. At the moment, tens of thousands of individual customers and business customers of Ulster Bank and KBC are trying to find a new bank. Among the reasons those banks are leaving the country is that while they can make profits here, they actually would make more profits for their capital in other countries. That is one of the stated reasons they are leaving Ireland.

It is true that interest rates are higher in Ireland than in other eurozone countries. It is also true that bank charges are lower. There are signing fees that do not exist in Ireland. It is the case in Ireland that we have a much lower level of repossessions, which is a good thing by the way. That has a knock-on effect of socialising the cost of that in higher interest rates. There are many reasons as to why interest rates in Ireland are higher than in other European countries.