Holders of variable rate mortgages will be the first to benefit from today's surprise decision by the European Central Bank to cut interest rates by one quarter of 1 per cent.
Irish mortgage lenders are expected to follow the ECB's lead and cut their lending rates by the same amount.
The ECB surprised financial markets by cutting rates, bowing to pressure for action amid mounting evidence growth was slowing in the common currency zone.
The bank said it would trim its minimum bid rate to 4.50 per cent from 4.75 per cent in only its second-ever policy easing since it was founded in 1998.
The decision came after a quarter point cut by the Bank of England earlier today to 5.25 per cent and followed months of resisting international pressure for action against slowing global and European growth.
The majority of analysts had expected the ECB to hold until June at the earliest. This view had been supported by a chorus of hawkish comments from ECB council members that price risks still outweighed growth concerns.
But gloomy industrial production, orders and jobs data this week from Germany, Europe's largest economy, had raised fears of a serious slowdown at the heart of the common currency bloc.