Fianna Fáil has protected the banks with the bailout and bondholders with the EU-IMF deal, but taxpayers, particularly those with high mortgages and in negative equity, continue to suffer.
This is the view of Fine Gael Galway East candidate Paul Connaughton jnr, who said politicians and political parties have ignored the plight of mortgage payers for too long.
“It is now recognised that the thousands of homebuyers who purchased houses at the height of the boom must get help,” he said, “but all other political parties seem to be disinterested.”
However he said Fine Gael has issued a new policy which will seek to provide financial help for homeowners and assist “thousands of young people who cannot afford paying their mortgages”.
The Fine Gael proposal would mean that under certain conditions homeowners could expect to get a mortgage interest subsidy of up to €166 per month.
“I believe putting people out of their homes because of their inability to meet their huge repayments makes bad economic and social sense,” said Cllr Connaughton. “The houses that are vacated will not attract another owner for several years and the family vacating the home will have to be housed by the local authorities at a huge cost again to the taxpayer.”
Cllr Connaughton said it is “incumbent on any incoming Government” to save certain categories of homeowners from “total annihilation”.
