John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to address that point. The fact is that it is a matter of criminal law. I am talking about someone who was beaten up by the economic crash and turned to the contract to try to get some comfort from it, only for that approach to fail miserably while the person in question was busy trying to keep his or her life, business or family together and, at the same time, trying to stave off the actions of a receiver who has no interest in obligation. Such people often do not have the money or the physical or mental disposition to go to court to defend themselves. They presume that because these people are acting in the way they are acting, they must have the full might of the law behind them. We are discovering today that this is not the case. We have learned that the people they are dealing with are not regulated.

I mentioned a case I took up. It is one of many cases with the same outcome, unfortunately. In that case, the receiver decided to get me off the pitch by sending me a stiff solicitor's letter. I was supposed to buckle at the knees when I received it, but I did not do so. I can imagine that a person who is defending his or her property and family, and trying to keep some of it together for the future, would buckle at the knees in such circumstances. He or she might not have the funds required to continue. I am trying to get a message across about how weak the system is, and how weak the individual is against the might of the lender and one of the big accountancy firms. They are using their money to ensure they get what they want, and they will beat up anyone in the process. That is the reality. I am asking Mr. McKenna to take note of that.