It is "utterly unjust" that homeowners who were forced to buy houses at inflated prices during the boom should be victimised by interest rate hikes, according to the United Left Alliance.
The alliance, which represents a spectrum of political parties including the Socialist Party and People Before Profit Alliance, has called for a freeze in interest rates and the outlawing of repossessions.
During a photocall outside the Permanent TSB offices on Grafton Street today, ULA candidate for Dublin West and Social Party leader Joe Higgins called for a freeze on mortgage interest rates, a recalibration of the amount paid for their homes with the financial institutions to bring prices down to the real value of their homes.
"What we are calling for is a freeze in interest rates for householders with these massive mortgages which they were forced to take out – these are the ordinary working people who are now in their thirties and twenties - they were forced to take out huge mortgages during the boom just for the civil right of getting a roof over their head.
"They were the victims of the speculators, the bankers and the massive profiteering that went on in the property market and then hammered into 35 or 40 year mortgages and now in negative equity.
"It is utterly unjust that they should be now doubly victimised for the speculation and the profiteering that went on by virtue of interest rates being put up."
He said that those who faced losing their homes were not the perpetrators of the economic crisis we find ourselves in, labelling it completely unjust and immoral that such people are now living with the pressure and worry that their homes might be repossessed.