ECB ending the era of cheap money will mean financial pain for Irish households

Analysts say there will be no escaping the ECB rate hikes in July and September for the 460,000 mortgage borrowers in Ireland who are on variable or tracker home loans

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde: Inflation “primarily on the upside”.

The European Central Bank has paved the way for a rate hike of a quarter point in July and a potentially larger increase in September, which will push up the cost of servicing a mortgage for many thousands of Irish households this summer.              

Following its Thursday gathering, the central bank led by president Christine Lagarde definitively put an end to the era of ultra-low interest rates as they forced to react as the Ukraine war drives energy and food prices to multi-decades highs in most of the eurozone.