Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance Pearse Doherty TD has said that the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar must correct the Dáil record having given a different account of his meeting with senior bankers in May on RTÉ radio this morning than he gave to the Dáil on Thursday.

Teachta Doherty said:

“In response to questions from me in the Dáil on Thursday, the Tánaiste said ‘Banks never claimed that they couldn’t waive interest [in respect of Covid-19 mortgage breaks]… They did say it would be possible to waive interest for that period.’

“This account contradicted the minutes of a meeting with senior bankers the former Taoiseach had on 11th May.

“Today on RTÉ radio, the Tánaiste has now given a different version of events; saying that he was told by bankers that they had to charge interest on Covid-19 mortgage breaks.

“Only one version of these events is true. The Tánaiste needs to correct the Dáil record.

“The reality is that banks have been giving a naive government the runaround on this issue.

“They have been caught red handed and they cannot be allowed to profiteer on the back of this pandemic by imposing a Covid penalty on workers and families who have availed of a mortgage break.”