Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I compliment Deputy Flanagan on introducing the Bill, which is badly needed if we believe media reports on how individuals and businesses have been targeted by people collecting debt on behalf of banks and other institutions. The Bill is timely and the Government parties should not vote against it. I hope they will accept it and bring forward the necessary amendments on Committee Stage. The Bill is necessary and well thought out. People are looking for this kind of legislation. The State must always regulate financial matters concerning debt collectors and debtors. The law must be in place for the person to whom the money is owed, but also for the person who is in difficulty.

Deputy Neville is correct in saying that many people are currently in a very serious economic situation. I heard from someone recently who is under a lot of pressure because the sheriff has set a date for his home to be vacated. However, while the sheriff, the debt collector and the bank get paid, there is no help at all for people who find themselves in such difficult situations. They must get rid of their belongings and seek alternative accommodation if their homes are seized.

The time has come for this kind of legislation. In a civilised country we cannot have the Mafia, criminals and gangsters collecting money on behalf of individuals by threatening and upsetting people. In some cases, these people may break up someone's home and threaten to injure them the next time they come.

Deputy Neville is also correct in saying that sane people who have never been mentally ill can be very badly affected when they find themselves in this kind of difficulty. I have seen it happen. It affects them mentally as well as affecting their families and homes, but there is no back-up support for them.

I compliment Deputy Charles Flanagan on introducing this Bill which is very necessary. The number of people in economic difficulties will grow because of the economic crisis, but we cannot have criminals collecting money by threatening people.

I want to tell the banking institutions, local authorities and all State agencies that these are difficult times for many people. If people find themselves in financial difficulties, rather than posting them nasty letters and threatening to send the sheriff to repossess their homes, they should sit down to work out how such matters can be resolved. Currently, the banks are depending on taxpayers and the State to bail them out, yet at the same time the banks are putting pressure on small businesses and family homes. Families are under severe pressure in this country at present. There is no doubt, however, that the banks created many of the problems by giving money to those who could not repay it. The banks did not do their work properly, yet they are now pressurising people to pay back money they should never have been given in the first place. None the less, when the banks and other financial institutions got into difficulty we did not send in the Russian Mafia to deal with them, although perhaps we should have. The way they behaved caused problems in this economy and law-abiding, tax-paying citizens and the State have had to bail them out. The bankers went away with big bonuses, but poor people are being pressurised by gangsters trying to take money off them that they do not have.

I compliment Deputy Flanagan and hope the Government will accept the Bill. I hope the Minister will also make the necessary amendments to it. We cannot have criminals and gangsters administering the law. We must have law and order for everybody - the poor and weak as well as the rich.

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