Many homeowners are experiencing sharp and sudden hikes in interest rates. The vulture fund, Pepper, has warned borrowers it will hike interest rates again, with many now facing mortgage repayments which are as much as €3,500 higher than last year. It is now clear that the assurances made by Ministers that those whose mortgages were sold to vulture funds would be no worse off were false. In the months ahead, these homeowners will face further rate hikes and higher mortgage repayments. Fianna Fáil championed mortgage interest relief in 2017. Its Minister for Finance introduced legislation to cap interest rates in 2016. It has since, unfortunately, done a U-turn on both. Will the Tánaiste outline what measures the Government will take to address this issue? Will the Government consider Sinn Féin's proposal to introduce targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief until the end of the year?

Sinn Féin is very adept at using language like "targeted", "interim" and so on. When mortgage interest relief was last in operation in 2008, it cost about €700 million. Research showed that the top two deciles of income benefited the most. The broader cost-of-living measures we have introduced in the past 15 months, from January 2022 onwards, will help those who are coming under pressure with increased mortgage repayments. However, we still have the third lowest rates in Europe, at 2.69%. In December, it was revealed that 93% of those who have mortgages have a fixed rate. Those rates are higher than tracker rates and so on. Those who have mortgages from non-lending institutions are a particular focus of the Central Bank. The Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, met the Central Bank in respect of that issue recently.