Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

Advising people to be cautious on how they use their money when legalisation preventing such pyramid schemes is not in place is like telling people to be careful when they are crossing the road but not providing any pedestrian crossings. The Minister must realise the existing legislation for pyramid schemes is inadequate and lacks the power of prosecution. That the Minister will have legislation in place this year does not fill me with any great confidence, considering his record over several years.

I urge the Minister to insert into the pyramid selling legislation the type of necessary safeguards to outlaw the practices in question. If the Garda could have prosecuted at this stage, it would have. How long will the Minister wait for the Garda Deputy Commissioner's views on the scheme in question? How long does the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment intend to dally on the issue? It did not have to wait for a pyramid scheme of this nature to reform the legislation. Calls for the legislation to be updated have been made for some time, yet they were ignored. I am sure the Minister hopes the matter will go away again.

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