Tá costais morgáiste ardaithe ag na mílte úinéirí tí mar thoradh ar ardú na rátaí úis atá feicthe le cúpla mí anuas. Éireoidh sé níos measa sna míonna atá amach romhainn de réir mar a mhéadaíonn rátaí trasna an bhoird agus de réir mar a bhíonn oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ag déileáil leis an ngéarchéim costais maireachtála. Tá tacaíocht agus faoiseamh morgáiste de dhíth orthu.

For homeowners, the cost-of-living crisis has opened up a new front, as mortgage-interest rates continue to rise. The European Central Bank, ECB, increased its key interest rate which took effect yesterday and a further hike expected is next month. As we know, retail banks have not yet passed on ECB rate hikes in full, but it is widely expected that rates will rise significantly across the board in the coming months.

For others, the impact has been immediate and severe. The tens of thousands of homeowners who had their mortgages sold off to vulture funds were time and again given assurances by Government Ministers that they had nothing to worry about. The Taoiseach told them they would be no worse off while the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform went so far as to say that he would be happy for his own mortgage to be sold off to a vulture fund. These assurances were naïve in the extreme back then and they have proven to be completely false.

My party and I warned of this years ago. Now the tens of thousands of borrowers whose loans are held by vulture funds are at the sharp edge of these interest rate hikes. Many of them are facing interest rates as high as 7.5%. They are paying as much as €400 more per month in interest than they would be paying had their mortgages not been sold off. They have no option to switch or to fix their rate. They describe themselves as mortgage prisoners with nowhere to turn.

One homeowner contacted me whose mortgage was sold by Permanent TSB to Start Mortgages. She is a full-time carer for her son, who has cerebral palsy. By January she had received four letters each informing her of a further rate increase. She will be paying over €4,000 in additional interest this year, with further hikes down the line, with the hike that took effect yesterday and the one that is planned for March. She said that hikes across the board are barely sustainable, but to have the constant fear every month of the next increase coming and how to finance the previous month's increase, is inhumane.

Many households face this reality. They have received as many as five letters through the door and will receive a sixth next month, when the ECB hikes its rates again. As banks increase their interest rates in the coming months, thousands more households will face higher mortgage costs. For many this is breaking point.

Being able to pay the mortgage is just as important as being able to pay the rent or the energy bill. The alternatives are just as serious: arrears, increased debt and financial hardship. Sinn Féin has called on the Government to introduce targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support homeowners who are and will face spiralling interest and mortgage costs. The Minister for Finance has rejected this proposal; he is wrong to do so.

Fianna Fáil campaigned in the 2016 general election to extend mortgage interest relief when rates for many were half what they are now for those whose mortgages are in the hands of the vultures. So I am asking, will the Government introduce targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support these homeowners who are now paying up to 7.5% interest into the hands of vulture funds and will be paying 8% when the ECB increases its interest rate within four weeks?

This was debated with the Sinn Féin motion last night and it was also raised on Leaders' Questions yesterday. The Deputy knows that the formulation of monetary policy is an independent matter for the European Central Bank. We are acutely aware that the ECB has hiked its key interest rates by 3% since last July to fight inflation. That is why it is being done. We expect two further rate increases. It is up to each individual lender to decide on whether to pass on those increases. The Government has no role in setting retail interest rates, as the Deputy also knows. That is solely a commercial matter for the individual lenders. It is also important to note that the average interest rate on new mortgages in Ireland was 2.69% in December and the average rate for mortgages in the eurozone was just short of 3%. We have one of the lowest new variable rates in Europe. That has been a significant change over recent years.

At the finance committee last month, representatives from the Central Bank reiterated that regulated lenders including banks and non-banks have very clear obligations under the code of conduct on mortgage arrears and the Central Banks supervisory regime to have supports, resources and options available for any borrower who feels they may be challenged in meeting their mortgage repayments. In November 2022 the Central Bank wrote to lenders to emphasise the onus on them to review their product lines and suites of options to make sure they remain fit for purpose. In the case of credit, that means making sure the loans remain affordable. Thankfully, we have seen a continued reduction in long-standing mortgage arrears where rates have fallen quite substantially in the last number of years. The banks' supervisory regime focuses on affordability and kicks in not just when a person falls into arrears but when a person is facing arrears. It is more extensive, detailed and intrusive than in any other European jurisdiction. The Central Bank said last week that the area on which it is most focused is the one which Deputy Doherty has raised, namely, the 38,000 borrowers who are on high interest rates with the non-bank lenders who do not have a full suite of options available to them. Many cannot switch into fixed rates. Many can and are not aware that they can if their loan is a performing loan now. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, met the Governor of the Central Bank this week and asked the regulator if it needs more legal powers to assist such mortgage holders. That is being worked on right now. Borrowers facing financial difficulty should engage with lenders as early as possible as a way of addressing the issues. Borrowers can appeal any decision to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

On specific tax measures, the Deputy knows that tax decisions are made in a co-ordinated way through the annual budget process which generally follows the establishment of a pathway taking into account the national economic dialogue, the summer economic statement and the tax strategy group deliberations. Mortgage interest relief cost the Exchequer more than €700 million a year if you go back to 2008, which was the final year before the gradual phasing out of mortgage-interest relief. Sinn Féin's proposals to reintroduce mortgage-interest relief would be of no benefit to fixed-rate mortgages yet the average outstanding balance as of June 2022 on tracker mortgages is about €107,000 whereas the corresponding figure for fixed-rate mortgages is just short of €175,000. Moreover the average new mortgage draw-down in the third quarter of 2022 was €284,000. Thankfully, the vast majority of new mortgages in Ireland now, over 90%, are on a fixed-rate basis. There are issues with the non-bank lenders and the Minister for Finance has been working with the Governor of the Central Bank about strengthening its code and asking the Central Bank what additional powers it would require to help in the area.

When the Minister's party clubbed with Fine Gael to prevent legislation to ensure these loans were not sold to the vulture funds, it gave commitments that people would be no worse off. How naive was that? How false a promise was that? These individuals are paying thousands and thousands of euro more as a result of their mortgages being sold to a vulture fund. I gave the example of Rachel. She is paying €4,000 in interest more than she was paying this time last year. That is a serious amount of money and it is before this month's interest-rate hike kicks in or that of next month. The Government handed them over to the vultures and the vultures are preying on them now. They are being charged 7.5% interest and it will go up next month to 8%. The Minister says it is over to the Central Bank. We know the limitations of the Central Bank. These vulture funds, in the main, are not offering fixed rates or reduced rates. Their offer to customers is one of "pay your mortgage or we come after you". There is a solution here. It is not to take away all of the pain but about reintroducing mortgage-interest relief in a targeted and tailored way.

That is not the way it introduced it in the past, which covered all interests, but to cover the increased interest since June of last year. Does the Minister not consider it appropriate that people paying over €5,000 more in interest should have a measure introduced to help them in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis?

It is slightly disingenuous to look at this in isolation. The Deputy neglected to mention the cost-of-living measures we brought forward in the last budget, which was the most significant package of measures brought forward and more than even the Deputy’s party looked for. Sinn Féin's targeted measure, as far as we can discern, would affect about 716,000 mortgages. That party has not provided costings to us, though it was asked for them. We estimate that approach would cost about €655 million. It has to make choices within that.

That is nonsense.

It is not. I ask the Deputy to publish his proposals because on any issue, he brings forward what he deems simple solutions but never publishes costings or legislation for them.

That is not true.

You bring forward a motion. The reality of it is-----

What about those you handed over to the vultures?

The Minister, without interruption.

-----this Government’s stewardship of our economy over the past two or three years has meant we have been able to bring forward unprecedented measures in relation to the cost of living and increased social welfare payments targeted at the right people.

You handed these families to the vultures. What are you going to do?

The issue of non-bank lenders is a real one.

Yes.

I have said to the Deputy, for fear of repeating myself-----

You will do nothing.

-----that the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, has engaged with the Central Bank in that space.

It was the Central Bank that reduced interest rates.

The Deputy should provide his costings and publish them.