Hundreds of thousands of families will hear in the next hour or so that their mortgages are going up. They have just listened to the Tánaiste and have heard nothing on direct supports from him. His backbenchers will brief the media that the Government is considering this and so on but the leader of the party is still not saying that the Government is willing to intervene and provide direct supports for mortgage holders. That is a crazy situation. People are already paying 8% interest rates. It will go up after toda…

So there is no direct support for mortgage holders.

Government Ministers are briefing the media.

Nonsense. The Government is abandoning the mortgage holders.

There are winners and losers in the cost-of-living crisis. The winners are clearly the big corporations. As has been mentioned, the European Central Bank, ECB, made it clear that corporate profiteering or "greedflation" has been a key driver of inflation. We see profits soaring: ESB, up; Energia, up; and Bord Gáis, up. We learned today that Shell, the biggest oil and gas operator in Europe, made profits of €8.7 billion in the first three months of this years. Despite electricity prices remaining sky high, the windf…

Do what Germany does.

Not for 2022.

Tá teaghlaigh ag streachailt faoin ngéarchéim costas maireachtála le breis agus bliain. Tá praghsanna fuinnimh do theaghlaigh ag dul suas go fóill, in ainneoin go bhfuil titim ar chostais do sholáthróirí. Tá an Rialtas ag diúltú dul i ngleic leis an mbrabús ollmhór a rinne na comhlachtaí fuinnimh anuraidh agus praghsanna leictreachais a laghdú agus teorainn a chur leo, mar atá déanta ar fud na hEorpa. Households have been struggling under a cost-of-living crisis for well over a year now. When inflation skyrocketed …

I welcome Trim's Men's Shed with us in the Gallery. I commend all the Men's Sheds across the State for the work they do. Ó mhí Iúil na bliana seo caite, tá rátaí úis morgáiste méadaithe sé huaire ag an mBanc Ceannais Eorpach. Tá cuma go n-ardóidh an banc na rátaí seo arís an tseachtain seo chugainn, rud a chiallaíonn go mbeidh na mílte oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ag díol na céadta euro breise in aghaidh na míosa ar an gcostas a bhaineann le díon a choinneáil os cionn a gcloigne i gcomparáid leis an am seo anuraidh. In…

These families need support now. They need support from the Government. Yes, the ECB will set the rates independently but the Government can act. Mortgage interest relief was here until 2021 and the Tánaiste's party campaigned for its extension. I gave examples of people who are paying an interest rate of 8%. The governing council of the ECB is going to meet next Thursday. The decision it will have to make is to what level interest rates are going to rise. The rates are going to rise further. The Central Bank has i…

What is the Government going to do for these families who are absolutely being penalised?

It was adopted by Germany at Christmas.

We will stand up for mortgage holders. There is no doubt about that.

On Tuesday, the Central Bank's latest motor insurance report was published and it makes clear that the insurance industry is continuing to rip-off its consumers. It is now two years since the personal injury guidelines came into effect. These guidelines significantly reduced the cost of claims for insurers but motor premiums have only fallen by 5%. When the industry was campaigning for this in 2019, the CEO of Zurich Insurance Group told the committee that if soft tissue personal injury awards fell by 50%, and insu…

The Government is just after changing tax last week.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges the most recent Stability Programme Update 2023, which forecasts a general government surplus in excess of €10 billion this year; agrees with: — the Free Legal Advice Centre that "spikes in the cost of living and interest rates threaten an increase in new arrears cases"; and — the Money Advice and Budgeting Service that "the interest rate hikes serve as a particularly alarming trend during a cost-of-living crisis and are having disastrous effects"; notes that: — in March the …

I have said it so many times.

Because it ends.

And all in the alternative budget.

They are.