The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised its key interest rate by a further half a percentage point to 3% - a level last seen in 2008.
This is the fifth time in-a-row that the ECB has raised rates as it battles to flight inflation, with a warning issued that further increases could be still to come.
The latest increase will be passed on automatically to an estimated 240,000 Irish tracker mortgage loans and will likely prompt banks to increase other home loan rates in the coming weeks.
On its own the 0.5% increase will add another €600 a year to the mortgage bill of a homeowner on a 15-year tracker mortgage of €200,000.
The ECB, led by its president Christine Lagarde, also increased its deposit rate by half a point, to 2.5%.
The ECB deposit rate stood at minus 0.5% and the main lending rate was zero before the Frankfurt-based institution started a cycle of raising the cost of borrowing last July.
