'Central Bank and Government should be embarrassed' at costly Irish mortgage rates

Irish interest rates have been running at extremely high levels since Ireland joined the eurozone and the gap has not significantly narrowed, say experts.

Interest rates that Irish banks charge their customers for their new mortgages, fixed-rate, and even variable rate loans edged a bit lower in recent months, but the gap with the rest of the eurozone remains a chasm, Central Bank figures show.

It has been a running sore for over two decades that Irish households and small businesses pay elevated borrowing costs compared with the rest of the eurozone, but the latest figures show that the gap will not narrow any time soon.