David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response and for the work she and her officials are doing in this area, which is very serious, especially given, as she told us, there were 1,500 such calls last year. I wonder how many of them caused damage to people and managed to defraud them, although she might not have that information to hand. I welcome the fact that, as she noted, the figure has fallen to 100 this year, which shows that progress has been made and that the work she and her officials are doing is bearing fruit.

Has anybody been prosecuted as a result of making these scam calls and sending these scam text messages? I urge the Minister to continue to inform people of the danger of these scams and to remind them they should not give out information. I again highlight the importance of Citizens Information being made available as much as possible, even on a personal basis in towns and villages, and I reiterate that the outreach centres are very important in that regard.

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