Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Cheann Comhairle. This is my first time to speak during the Topical Issue debate. I do not like to raise the issue but I must do so. I said this morning to the Ceann Comhairle that the Christmas spirit prevailed when I was successful in having a matter selected for discussion during the Topical Issue debate, having submitted approximately 30 issues previously. However, there is no Christmas spirit outside the House, as will be evident from the issue I wish to raise.

It relates to a sad situation in Drangan, Thurles, County Tipperary. SOS Contractors, which is run by the White family, has been in business for four decades. They are not Johnny-come-latelies or newcomers to the business. They are honest, hardworking people - father, mother and four sons. They have given valuable employment and provided valuable services to farmers and others in County Tipperary, north and south, and beyond. On the night of 3 November, without notice of any kind, so-called agents of Bank of Ireland Finance called to the premises wearing hoodies in the dead of night. I call them nothing short of thugs. They were accompanied by gardaí, which is most shocking. They proceeded to break and enter into an adjoining property, travelled across two fields and upset stock, broke fences and removed a number of machines from the family's premises while covering CCTV cameras with strong lights. That is outrageous.

I have in my possession a tax clearance certificate issued by the tax office in Thurles to the family which is valid until 15 November 2012. The company's tax is up to date. The family does not have a problem with Bank of Ireland, which they deal with in Fethard, or in Clonmel. They never had a problem with the banking services offered there. However, what is going on in this country today is State terrorism, especially when the public, through the State, has such an interest in the pillar banks. I refer to the so-called pillar banks that we hold up as models which we wish to maintain in the future. We think we have got rid of all the bad ones. I compliment the ordinary, decent staff who work in those banks across the country, but those involved in this case are nothing short of cowboys. They have worked for promotion and received generous commissions. They try to trade on misery.

The family should have received notice or letters of intent. Two years previously they had tried to restructure their loans. In this case the machines that were taken were all from 2005, 2006 and 2007 and the payments on them were almost finished. I have a list of the payments made on them right up to September 2011. One payment for €5,000, which was made on 20 September, was in the possession of the bank but it still had not been cashed by 3 November. That is scandalous. There has been little communication and no explanation.

The machines were taken to Ganly Craigie for auction. The company holds big auctions which are widely advertised. I tell people to stay away from those auctions as they are buying people's misery. Those people no longer have the tools of the trade to carry out their work. What are they to do with their employees coming up to Christmas? This is a most awful situation visited on the family. The Black and Tans did not do such things. The landlords with their sheriffs coming in to evict people did not do it. These people came in the dead of night under the cover of gardaí who backed a paddy-wagon into the front of the family house and sat there for 40 minutes. The thugs did not identify themselves. To make matters worse, they were driving a repossessed jeep which did not have an NCT certificate or an insurance disc. The registration number was 08 CE 2982. It was stolen from elsewhere and is someone's else's misery. That was brought to the attention of the Garda who escorted the vehicle with five thugs inside it around the roads of County Tipperary for hours, from Drangan to Thurles to Littleton. This is appalling.

I am disappointed the Minister for Justice and Equality is not present. I have spoken to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, on what the banks are doing to people. The previous speaker, Deputy Timmins, referred to what we have to protect in Europe but if we cannot protect hard-working decent taxpayers and small private businesses we will have no country, no employment and no one to get us out of the mess.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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What happened was disgraceful.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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On a point of information. I understand the issue was directed to the Minister for Finance, not the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Yes.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I will be replying on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan. Deputy Mattie McGrath has placed serious issues on the record. I urge him to write to the Garda superintendent in his district-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I have spoken to him.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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-----and to the Garda Commissioner about the issue in order to have it investigated. I understand there is also a complaints commission to identify the issue and respond to it because the Deputy has made serious charges in the House.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I have been informed by departmental officials that the issue of such repossessions has not been brought to the attention of the Department of Finance. I assume the Deputy is referring to hire purchase agreements.

The Central Bank has advised that there are no legislative requirements that oblige hire purchase providers to seek an authorisation from the bank for the provision of hire purchase agreements for consumers and-or small businesses. Notwithstanding this, hire purchase providers are required to comply with the relevant provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 when providing hire purchase agreements for consumers acting outside their business. In the Consumer Credit Act 1995 the hire purchase company is referred to as the owner. The Act contains a number of protections for what are referred to in the Act as the hirer of the goods. The Act defines the "hirer" as a consumer who takes, intends to take or has taken goods from an owner under a hire purchase agreement in return for periodic payments. However, the protections under the Act do not apply to small businesses.

In the case of small and medium enterprises, where hire purchase is provided by a bank under its banking licence, the bank is required to comply with the Central Bank's code of conduct for business lending to small and medium enterprises. The section on financial difficulties in the code requires firms to have in place procedures for the handling of arrears cases, to give the borrower reasonable time to solve an arrears problem and to endeavour to agree an approach to assist the borrower to solve an arrears problem. This section has recently been revised and now contains more detailed requirements. The revised requirements will be effective from 1 January 2012 and a copy is available on the Central Bank's website at www.centralbank.ie.

Credit intermediaries engaged in the provision of hire purchase agreements are required to seek authorisation under the Consumer Credit Act 1995 for the provision of such agreements for consumers. The National Consumer Agency is responsible for the authorisation of credit intermediaries.

In some instances, a person who is dissatisfied with his or her treatment by a hire purchase company can make a complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman. To be eligible to make a complaint, the person has to be considered a consumer for the purposes of making a complaint to the ombudsman. The people who come within this definition include all personal customers acting outside their trade, business or profession; limited companies with a turnover of €3 million or less, and unincorporated bodies, partnerships and trusts. The remit of the Financial Services Ombudsman was extended to include complaints in relation to the providers of hire purchase agreements under Regulation 2 of the Central Bank Act 1942 (Financial Services Ombudsman) Regulations 2005.

The Financial Services Ombudsman is a statutory officer who deals independently with complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with financial service providers that have not been resolved by the providers after they have been through the internal complaints resolution system. It is a free service to the complainant. Compensation up to €250,000 can be awarded and decisions are binding, subject to appeal to the High Court.

Turning from the legislative provisions in relation to hire purchase agreements, I encourage businesses to shop around for the most suitable way of finding finance for new plant and machinery. I will send the rest of the reply to the Deputy

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I acknowledge the fact that the question was tabled to the Minister for Finance. I mentioned the Minister for Justice and Equality because gardaí were involved. An investigation should be carried out in both Departments.

The Minister of State referred to the Consumer Credit Act 1995, but legislation does not matter to the people concerned. They came at the dead of night and broke into a neighbour's property. The owner of the premises was awakened by a good neighbour. The Community Alert scheme is very important in my county. I am a member of the national board of Muintir na Tíre which maintains it. The neighbour was going to work at 4.30 a.m. and heading for Dublin when he saw the activity at a cross-roads and machines being loaded up.

I accept what the Minister of State said about credit intermediaries and so on, but none of what he described happened in this case. Two years ago the owner of the business tried to reconstruct the payments with a lady called Sinéad Hayes from Bank of Ireland, but she was not seen again until she contacted it this week to try to mend fences.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy should not refer to a person who is not a Member by name. He may mention the names of banks.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I have actual evidence from the family. It is not hearsay. The same is happening in other parts of the country, including in the Minister of State's area, of which I have only anecdotal evidence.

A code of conduct does not matter to the people concerned. One of the machines they took was stolen because Bank of Ireland Finance had no payments for it and no knowledge of it. It was a Massey Ferguson 6490, registration number 06 TS 2758. It was taken away but driven back an hour later when it was discovered, four miles away, that it was not the right tractor. They also stole a hedge-cutter. Breaking and entering always amounted to stealing. They could have told the family in advance and come in the middle of the day. They took away a hedge-cutter valued at €20,000, on which the payments were with Woodchester Finance. The Minister of State advised people to shop around for finance. Woodchester Finance has informed the family that Bank of Ireland has passed the machinery over to it and that it is keeping it. The family has employees and farmers are waiting to have work done, but they cannot carry it out. Finance companies are all in a cartel. The public is paying for banks and bailing them out. The country has been brought to its knees, but the State protects and allows them to engage in this activity.

We need legislation immediately, as the public will not stand for this. It has been happening in many areas to builders and developers, and it may be that they had to go. However, the people about whom I am talking are contractors of good standing. They have been in business for 40 years and are decent people.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has raised very serious issues which I am glad to know he has already brought to the attention of a Garda superintendent in the Thurles area. They should also be known to the Garda Commissioner.

The Deputy referred to a paddywagon. The implications for the gardaí who might have been present are serious and the matter needs to be investigated if a Garda vehicle was involved. In my experience, gardaí have never acted except in conformity with the law and in keeping with the proper discharge of their duty of care.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I accept that.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I do not know enough about the issue, but I ask the Deputy to be very careful about any imputation of the integrity of gardaí in an action in which they might be involved if they act within the law.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I accept that totally. I have full respect for gardaí and have supported them all my life. I am not blaming individual officers. They were brought out by a financial institution and there was no court order.