Government and Central Bank: ‘No plans to reduce variable mortgage rates’

The Government and the Central Bank have no plans to force banks to reduce their sky-high variable rates for over 300,000 mortgage borrowers. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that the Central Bank has no new proposals to regulate mortgage interest rates.

While the Coalition has faced weeks of pressure to demand variable rates be reduced, Mr Noonan said that it was up to customers to convince lenders to change their rates.

He told the Dáil again yesterday that Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan was reviewing interest rates across lenders. However, he said the bank had no new proposals to regulate rates.