Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty said, we debated this legislation six years ago when we introduced similar legislation to introduce interest rate restrictions. At the time the Government turned down the legislation. I remember contributing to that debate at the time. One of the reasons the Government gave was the need to get more information on the consequences of bringing in an interest rate cap. We were told that there would be several unintended consequences which could flow from that. It would have to be examined more carefully and there was a commitment to do so.

We are back six years later debating the legislation again and we are now being asked by the Government to postpone the reading of the legislation on Second Stage for a further 12 months. The Government has had six years to examine all of this. It is now looking for another 12 months. In its amendment to the motion the Government states that it needs time to examine "University College Cork's report, Interest Rate Restrictions on Credit for Low-income Borrowers, which was launched by the Social Finance Foundation (SFF)". That report was launched 12 months ago. It has been sitting in the Department of Finance for 12 months. If the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy D'Arcy, has not studied it by now I do not have any confidence that he will study it within the next 12 months.

I agree with my colleague that this is nothing but a fob. The Government has no interest in addressing this. It has not done it in six years and is not going to do it in another 12 months. It is a comprehensive report which I read this afternoon. It is not a very long report. It does not take 12 months to read and act upon. It refers to the issues which the Government highlighted six years ago that needed to be addressed, for instance, the unintended impacts of an interest rate regulation. It goes into detail in the report on that. It says there are eight unintended consequences which could flow from an interest rate cap. It even ranks them for the Minister of State: two are ranked as high impact, four are medium and two are low. It goes further. It tells the Minister of State how to address those unintended consequences to mitigate them or to eradicate them totally. It also makes eight recommendations. The report goes beyond that. It considers the reasons people engage with legal moneylenders, why they do not consider other credit sources, such as the credit union and various other low income borrowing sources, and it goes into great detail on that around the convenience of these moneylenders and the doorstepping – they arrive at the door and collect the money weekly and that is convenient. It even asks if they did not exist what would those individuals who currently access legal moneylenders do in substitution. It states 75% of them would go to their credit union or other similar credit providers.

The report has been there for the past 12 months. I suggest that somebody in the Department read it, take on board the recommendations and gets on with this legislation. For the Government to sit on its hands for the next 12 months is not acceptable. I have no doubt but that in 12 months' time the Government will not act on this. I hope that Fianna Fáil and other parties reject the Government amendment and that the Bill is read a Second Time. If it is read a Second Time it should not engage in the carry on about money messages and try to hold it up on Committee Stage because that is not in the interests of the people that this Bill is trying to address. It is time for the Minister of State to get the finger out and take action. Six years have passed. We are not waiting another 12 months.

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