Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom an Teachta Pearse Doherty a mholadh de bharr an Bille seo. This is an important initiative to introduce a cap on what is paid back to licensed moneylenders. However, we should not forget that many loan sharks are intimidating and extorting exorbitant rates from citizens. Last week saw a mother of five receive a suspended sentence after loan sharks forced her to grow cannabis plants in her children's bedroom.

Every day this Dáil discusses the impact of the Government's savage austerity policies on the lives of citizens. In our constituencies we meet community and voluntary groups and individuals desperately struggling with the consequences of unemployment, austerity, cuts to public services and debt. It is the austerity policies of this Fine Gael and Labour Party Government which are driving more and more citizens into the hands of moneylenders. This is evidenced in the ESRI report which found that budget 2012 disproportionately affected citizens on low and middle incomes. Beidh an Rialtas ag pleanáil an chéad bhuiséid eile ó seo ar aghaidh. Tá éileamh á dhéanamh don séú austerity budget seo nach gcuirfear leis an mbochtanas atá ag 1.8 milliún duine atá ag maireachtáil ar €100 nó níos lú. Sin €25 a week. Very few Deputies or Ministers could live on €25 a week. One of the bleakest findings in the report was that 17% of adults - that is, 600,000 people - have absolutely nothing left for discretionary spending once all bills are paid. These are the citizens who are being forced to borrow not to buy drink, luxuries or pleasure but to pay utility bills, make mortgage payments and put food on their tables.

According to the Irish League of Credit Unions, 10% of households are turning to moneylenders to pay household bills, and many find that once caught in the moneylending trap it is almost impossible to escape. There is no cap currently for licensed moneylenders, and some lenders charge up to 210% APR. These lenders are making super profits on the back of hard-pressed families. They can do that only because the Government has done nothing to tackle excessive interest rates. A 210% APR means that a €500 loan taken out by a struggling family to pay a gas or electricity bill would cost them €186 if the loan was for six months and €375 if the loan was for 12 months. With little prospect of work or increased earnings, families are forced to return to moneylenders even before they have the last debt paid to try to pay the next bill. It is a vicious circle. Given that a €500 loan from a credit union would cost the same family €13 and €25, respectively, the excessiveness of these rates is obvious.

There is undoubtedly a broader issue in regard to the way those on low incomes interact with financial institutions. One in six of the population do not have a bank account, a bank card, or access to an overdraft or other borrowing facilities. These citizens are dependent on cash and credit from legal or illegal moneylenders. Of the 46 licensed moneylenders in this State, 36 offer a doorstep collection service. That means that every week someone calls to collect the money. Of the 46 moneylenders currently operating licences, 29 have APRs of more than 100%. Fourteen of them charge 150%. Sin fiacha ar bharr fhiacha. Tá neart scríofa agus ráite faoi na deacrachtaí atá acu siúd atá faoi riaráistí morgáiste.

Ar an 18 Eanáir bhí tuairim agus 70,019 duine i riaráistí ar feadh 91 lá. Fine Gael and the Labour Party promised a lot for mortgage holders when in opposition. Sinn Féin welcomed the arrival, belatedly, of the Personal Insolvency Bill, but that Bill hands the banks a veto over personal insolvency arrangements. The reality is that 15% of mortgage holders are now in serious distress. The Governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, has told us that 25% of all mortgages, by value, are in arrears or have been restructured. That is illustrated by the huge increase in claimants of mortgage interest supplement in recent years. That is the payment which provides short-term support to help an individual make mortgage interest repayments. In 2007, in my constituency of Louth, only 75 citizens were in receipt of this payment. By March of this year, that number had leapt to 465. The State-wide figure is 18,000. By any measure, therefore, we have a huge crisis in regard to mortgages. The Taoiseach has stated that this is the single biggest crisis facing our people, but the problems of debt, moneylenders and austerity have more profound implications. Figures show that the number of suicides rose last year to 525 - an increase of 7%. Those are the ones that are reported. Some 439 men and 86 women are recorded as having taken their own lives in 2011. Deputy Dan Neville, President of the Irish Association of Suicidology, acknowledged that these figures were frightening but not surprising given the state of the economy. Yesterday's report made a clear connection between austerity and suicide. It revealed that of the 190 deaths in Cork - that is a huge number of citizens in that city - 31% were unemployed.

The excessive interest rates being charged by licensed moneylenders, and all the other pressures upon pressures, are pushing hard-pressed families further into financial stress, real distress and increased poverty. There is no real moral, economic or political justification for the absence of a cap on interest rates charged by licensed moneylenders. The Bill introduced by Sinn Féin proposes a cap of 40%. This level is fairer to customers while allowing licensed lenders to operate on a sound commercial basis. It may be that the Government did not know the detail or the consequences of all of this. I say that in a very fraternal way. Having heard the facts, there is obviously an urgent need for a cap to be introduced on interest rates and for there to be more wide-ranging reform of the regulation of licensed moneylenders and the policing of illegal loan sharks. I ask all Deputies to support the Bill.

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