Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With all due respect to the Tánaiste, that is an utterly pathetic answer. PCPs in Ireland are not regulated as specific products. The Central Bank is telling journalists who ask the question that it is not responsible, that they are a matter for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. The Government has no figures whatsoever for how many of these contracts have been entered into and we cannot get them. My colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, has written to the Central Bank to see if figures can be obtained. That is the reality; it is like the Wild West and the Government is sitting back and doing nothing. If someone goes into a garage or to a motor dealer, the encounter is not regulated in any way. This has been a huge gap in the market in terms of regulation in the past few years. Fingers have been pointed at other parties for standing over a lack of regulation, but this has been happening since 2013 or 2014 since these products came onto the market.

There has been no Government regulatory response.

There are significant worries in the United States, the Bank of England and the motor dealers' association in Ireland. I assume that if people cannot pay these bubble payments and cars go back on the market it will have severe adverse consequences for motor dealers. The truth is that second-hand car prices are collapsing because of the large numbers of cars being imported from the UK. That is having a very negative effect and there are no answers from the Government.

See this speech in context