Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I intended to address some technical issues related to moneylending and such. I am disappointed that the Minister of State is pressing his amendment. He will not win that. He will call a division on something he will not win. Fianna Fáil has indicated its support for the Bill. With the Sinn Féin votes, Fianna Fáil votes and those of others which I am sure there will be, the Government will be defeated. The Minister of State says the Government needs time to address this. My colleagues brought forward this legislation in 2012. Fine Gael has been in government for seven years and has not addressed this legislation at all.

I wanted to talk about some technical matters relating to the Bill but will not do that now because I want to talk about the people affected by this. Deputy Crowe referred to people in his constituency in the local post offices. That can be seen in my constituency too. One can see people, mostly women, who are outside the post offices at the time to collect their payments. The book is handed out to them. It is ongoing. Gardaí know about this. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of it. They come into my constituency office and tell me. We have legal moneylenders and illegal moneylenders, and a situation where very vulnerable families are very close to a crisis. Many might get themselves into a crisis which they cannot get out of. The moneylender then comes again. Some people may not have been educated as most of us have been. They do not understand interest rates or how they work. They have a bill to pay and Christmas is coming, a First Communion is coming, or there has been a death in the family and somebody comes and makes it seem easy to borrow money, and the family does not realise the extent of what they will be paying back. The Minister of State should reconsider his amendment. There is no point in him pressing it. He will be defeated in a division. I do not know why he would do that. He can press his amendment but he will be defeated and that is pretty pointless.

I want to express my concern about Deputies from different parties who have not turned up. I understand it is a Private Members' Bill but moneylending affects all of us. I am sure it arises in every constituency office across the State. The Labour Party voted against this in 2012. One would think that they would have had some contrition since then, would have come in, made amends and spoken in support of the Bill. Hopefully they will vote for it when the Minister of State presses his amendment.

I want to talk about the credit union It Makes Sense loan. It is a loan specifically aimed at those in receipt of social welfare payments. It is available in participating credit unions across the country, including many in my constituency in Limerick. When this loan was initially launched, I contacted all the credit unions in my constituency and urged them to do it. Many took it up. Others could not do it, as was referred to earlier, due to the documentation they have to fill and the lack of return they get for it. I encourage every credit union across the State to participate in the loan scheme.

Credit unions are the backbone of many local communities and the first point of call for people who are in financial distress. These small loans, which are provided at affordable rates in comparison with the loans provided by rip-off moneylenders operating across the State, legal and illegal, have the potential to tackle moneylenders. For example, for a loan of €500 repayable over six months a moneylender might charge almost ten times as much in interest as a credit union. In this regard, a borrower can save more than €134 or €5 per week on a credit union loan in comparison with a loan from a moneylender, legal or illegal. According to the credit unions moneylending is worse at back-to-school time in particular. Escalating school costs are causing more than one quarter of parents to get into debt as they resort to moneylenders to purchase basic items to enable their children to return to school.

The Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, should be ashamed of himself that he proposes to press his amendment. I again appeal to him to withdraw it. Once again he is failing the vulnerable people in our society. As Deputy Pearse Doherty explained, the amendment is not about protecting the vulnerable, it is about protecting the moneylenders. I urge the Minister to withdraw his amendment and to support the Bill.

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