John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am glad to contribute to this debate. Like other speakers, I compliment Deputy Flanagan on bringing this Bill before the House. I have listened to a plethora of Government Deputies, although the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran has not yet spoken. Perhaps I am a little naive as I have been a Member of the House for only a couple of years but for the past six months I have listened to Members on the Government benches asking us whether we would like to make suggestions on the budget and on what should be done, yet many suggestions from Fine Gael and other Opposition parties have been dismissed.

The other question asked from the Government benches is what would we do. I see the Bill as a very honest effort on behalf of Deputy Charles Flanagan; he is reacting to a situation that we all see in our offices and our constituencies where people are in debt and are being forced to pay back what they owe by an increasing criminal element, even though they have lost their jobs or their businesses have gone to the wall. This has bee well catalogued.

It is hard to believe that in 2009 this is the reaction we are getting from the Government. Perhaps in some ways it reflects what it has done and how it has run the country. In 2009, it is unbelievable to think there are no structures in place to regulate debt collectors at a time when personal debt of disposal income has more than trebled in the past number of years. It is also unbelievable that the Government has never introduced some form of regulation or has no plans to do so at a time when we hear horror stories of criminal elements taking the law into their own hands and intimidating, threatening, harassing and beating up people who are in arrears with their payments.

Everyone has obligations. Nobody is suggesting that debts do not have to be repaid. However, that can be done in a way in which everyone has their rights upheld and no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands. The timing of the Bill could not be more appropriate, with thousands of families driven to desperate methods to obtain loans from moneylenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest and then come down heavy if the loans are not repaid. The problem has multiplied in the past 12 to 18 months with the downturn in the economy.

Businesses are going to the wall and people are losing their jobs and in many respects everyone is a victim. We have all heard stories of properties being vandalised and destroyed, people being terrorised in the middle of the night and acid being thrown on cars parked outside houses. In a society where respect for human life is decreasing all the time somebody must prevent the rules of the gangland taking over. It is well documented that the criminal element is infiltrating this business. Regulation protects the law-abiding people working in this industry. Many people in the debt collection business are law abiding, they are above board and they provide a reputable service that is in demand in modern society. They have nothing to worry about from this Bill because they tick all the right boxes. The Bill gets the balance right between exerting pressure on people to repay their debts and not resorting to heavy-handed and illegal methods, which in certain instances can cause unbelievable stress on individuals and families where suicide is contemplated. We have unfortunately seen this in recent high profile cases.

I want to refer to an area that is technically outside the remit of the Bill, which is that debtors are committed to prison for non-payment of debts or fines. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe also spoke about this matter and I do not need to repeat the many figures he provided. These people are kept in prison for an average of 20 days but on release the debt remains. All that is achieved is the cost to the Stage, averaged at approximately €2,000 per week, without solving the problem of the unpaid debts and adding to the scandal of our already overcrowded prisons, a matter brought into sharp focus yesterday with the news that the new prison complex at Thornton Hall has been put on hold despite the millions of euro of taxpayers money already spent on the project.

What is needed is an overall and comprehensive package of measures to help all sides in this very important issue, namely, those in debt, those owed the money and those charged with collecting the debt. The Bill is an important plank in this package and I commend it to the House.

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