Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want the impression to go abroad that we are putting the legislation in place and seeing how it goes while it has no impact on moneylenders. Notwithstanding the small sums of money, there is an issue here. The Minister is being given power under this Bill to change the threshold, and there is a logic in that. The views of stakeholders on the value of the limit encompassed the upper end and the lower end; it was not a unanimous view. The establishment of the €2,000 threshold is a policy decision. It is at the lower end of European examples of credit registers of this nature. We must be cognisant of that. In every aspect of the Bill, we are talking about the entire financial services industry and all institutions, big and small, risky and risk-averse. We must take a considered policy decision on the way to go.

The Minister, whoever is in that position in the future, has the power to ensure the thresholds can be altered based on an impact assessment. We do not want to make it so onerous for every credit union to report the cost of each and every transaction that follows. There is a broad consensus about the threshold. After the legislation is enacted we will see how it works, and if there are significant issues arising, as outlined by the Deputy, they can be dealt with through substantive change by a future Minister for Finance.

There would be additional requirements for credit unions if we reduced the threshold to the amount argued by the Deputy. Stakeholders had mixed views during consultation with the Department of Finance and the Central Bank in the advance of the publication of the Bill. We believe it is broadly right, but any difficulty can be resolved.

The risky business of moneylending is tied up with the rates of interest charged. For some people, who want small, insignificant amounts of money that are significant from their perspective, the money is available for a short period of time, notwithstanding the fact that we must be conscious of the activities of moneylenders. There is a regulated sector and a demand for their services. We must wait and see how we can meet that within the confines of the Bill. The Dáil is giving the Minister for Finance and any future Minister for Finance the power to amend the threshold if the issues outlined by the Deputy become a difficulty.

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