Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is great. I appreciate that. It would be helpful if the Central Bank could gather that information for the committee.

Moneylenders have adapted their methods, which are extremely costly. Door-to-door collection, for example, is very labour intensive. The moneylender firms achieve high collection rates, but it also results in other issues, such as the rolling over of loans. Ms McEvoy will be familiar with the fact that I, along with six whistle-blowers, brought information to the Central Bank regarding the main moneylender in the State and the Central Bank subsequently made a significant finding against that firm as a result. That type of situation results from the intergenerational relationship and dependency that builds up in that context. The moneylender gets to know the family and gets to know that communion day is coming up for young Síofra or Donal, for example, and sells a loan to the family as a result. In most cases, the people concerned will have access to lower interest finance through the credit unions or elsewhere.

The model has been adapted, therefore, because Covid-19 has resulted in no door-to-door collections. Many of the customers of moneylenders are now making online payments and, as a result, costs are reduced. Is now not the time, if ever there was a good time, to examine how we deal with high costs of credit? There has been adaptation and the model is basically up in the air now. It could, however, go back to the way it was once Covid-19 restrictions end. The other option is that we could change the moneylending model into one that is less labour intensive and with lower costs, and, therefore, reduce the cost for consumers. I would like Ms McEvoy's view on that point.

My other question concerns the issue of Provident, which has ceased doorstep lending from this week. It has a significant market share. What is Ms McEvoy's view regarding the Department publishing the promised legislation to increase the cap that currently exists on credit unions? It is mad that there is no cap on moneylenders, but there is a cap on credit unions, which only allows them to charge an APR of 12%. I ask her to comment on increasing that cap to allow credit unions to offer more short-term loans to customers in the market for such products.