People Before Profit TD, and member of the Joint Oireachtas Budgetary Oversight Committee, Richard Boyd Barrett, has said that the Irish retail banks must absorb the mooted European Central Bank (ECB) mortgage rate increases because they have been charging their customers a premium for years.
He said that, due years of mortgage holders being overcharged, the banks must not pass on any further increases to their customers.
It is expected that the ECB will announce mortgage rate increases of up to 0.75% which would equate to a yearly average increase of €900 per year on a typical tracker mortgage and €930 for variable rate customers.
However, it has been previously reported that Central Bank data shows that the average mortgage rate in Ireland was 2.73% as opposed to a euro area average of 1.76%.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said: “People and households in this country are facing a very difficult winter with the cost of living and inflation crisis spiraling out of control. Many households will be seriously having to make decisions about whether they can turn on the heating, or in the most extreme circumstances- the choice between heating or eating.
“The Irish retail banks who were bailed out by the people of this country following the economic crash have been charging a premium to their customers here over the past number of years, according to Central Bank data.
“The Irish banks have the capacity and moral obligation to absorb any mortgage rate hike announced today by the ECB. They must do so and end the gross overcharging of mortgage holders that has been going on for years.”