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

The strong advice from the Attorney General is that the use of information generated under section 16(b) for an alternative purpose will be deemed an offence by the Central Bank. It is a matter for the Central Bank to regulate this and to ensure the system is working. As I said in my initial response to the Deputy, section 29(2) states, "A credit information provider who knowingly uses information to which access has been given under this Act for a purpose other than one permitted by this Act commits an offence." In this regard, consider the Deputy's point on general trawls and banks sending out letters encouraging people to take out hocus-pocus loans all over the place, which phenomenon was a reality in this country some years ago. If such activity became known in the brave new world we are all supposed to be trying to construct, it would be brought to the public's attention pretty smartly. An application could be made to the bank to investigate this issue. As far as we are concerned on the basis of the advice given to us by the Attorney General, the issue highlighted by Deputy Doherty involves the commission of an offence under section 29(2). We are now in a different place because we have the register in place. If the activity in question becomes part of a pattern of behaviour, the Central Bank will be on top of those concerned like a tonne of bricks. I very much hope so. More important, the legislation is framed in such a way as to provide the bank with all the authority to address this issue if it arises. More important still, the ultimate sanction will be penalties in the courts. I appreciate that the Deputy has given us the opportunity to raise this issue because it sets down a strong marker for the institutions that the kind of malpractice that obtained in the past will not be accepted in the future.

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