Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Am I right in saying one can now have a credit servicing company that does not require to be regulated? I am seeing a bit of a lacuna here, although the Minister of State will tell me there are not any. It is a bit like a company having a branch that is not separately incorporated. If a regulated owner of the loans sets up a company or engages a credit servicing company to deal with its loans exclusively, that credit servicing company does not have to be regulated. The Minister of State is basically saying that the principal firm is regulated. This is not in keeping with the essence of the legislation so far.

The Minister has said time after time today that, no matter what happens, the people in the front line who are dealing with the customers and mortgage holders, knocking on the doors, bringing them to court and issuing the legal letters will all have to come under the regulations of the legislation as credit servicing organisations.

However, the Minister of State is now saying there is an exception to the rule if a company has an exclusive credit servicing arrangement with an already regulated institution. It appears to be an exception. It is black and white. The person in the organisation doing the front-line contact with the customers in this situation does not require to be regulated. I thought the essence of everything the Minister said here during the past three hours was that-----