Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is not an encouraging balance that we are trying to strike here. To go back to the issue of those who need short-term loans, the suggestion from the witnesses is that they would resist an interest rate cap. Surely anybody listening to this conversation or studying these figures would say that any interest rate that creeps up to 287% has to be challenged, controlled and driven down. People are only going to engage with a regulated industry that they can trust and that they fundamentally believe will not exploit them. I do not think the argument about the potential for driving people into the underground market holds much water. Do the witnesses believe there is room for manoeuvre on this? The legislative body of which we are all Members has a responsibility to help the witnesses out and we must take that responsibility seriously. However, we are not in the business of allowing people to be exploited. What we are doing here essentially is saying that it is very sad that Mrs. Murphy is being charged over 200% for a loan to get her through a devastating period in her life but, hey, that is just the way it is. That seems to be the general consensus from the body politic and the Central Bank.