New mortgage relief appeal for hard-up families

Sinn Fein plea as Euro bank hikes interest rates

- BY FERGHAL BLANEY

SINN Fein has called on the Government to introduce more mortgage interest relief to help hard-pressed households.

This week saw the latest hammer blow for homeowners when the ECB hiked interest rates by 0.5%.

It immediately meant that 250,000 tracker customers saw their annual repayments go up by an average of €1,000 overnight.

Sinn Fein's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said: "The ECB increased its interest rate again this week, the sixth rate hike since July.

"This will immediately impact more than 250,000 borrowers who have seen their monthly repayments increase by hundreds of euros since January.

"It will also hit the pockets of thousands of borrowers whose mortgages were sold to vulture funds without their consent.