Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has no strategy two and a half years on - that is a fact. The Government is blocking the implementation of a shared information fraud database which would allow for information to be shared in real time. It is clear that the Government is not taking the issue of this growing crime seriously. Interventions could be made to protect citizens from the criminal activities of fraudsters but the Government is simply not at the races. For example, I raised the fact previously that in the North, banks and payment providers will soon be required to compensate victims of authorised push payments but there is no such protection here in the South. When I asked the Minister if it would be possible to introduce this protection in this jurisdiction he informed me that it was prohibited under the EU payment services directive. However the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, Ms Mairéad McGuinness, informed my colleague, Mr. Chris MacManus MEP, that there was nothing stopping member states from introducing such protections. We also have no requirement for banks to check the name of the entity to which customers are sending money against the name on the registered account. That safety check, called confirmation of payee, is in place and working well in the Netherlands and Britain.

As I said, this Government is blocking a shared information database and has no strategy two and a half years on. The BPFI has warned that if we fall behind in this fight, Ireland will become the destination of choice for fraudsters. We are falling behind. There has been an explosion in this type of fraudulent activity. The Minister spoke about the GNECB. I got a call from the GNECB yesterday but it was not actually from the bureau. It was a scammer who claimed to represent the GNECB and who told me to press number 1 in relation to my account. This is happening all of the time. There has been an explosion in this type of activity and it makes no sense that the Government has no strategy, is blocking the shared information database, has not implemented confirmation of payee and that there is no process in place whereby victims would be compensated as they will be in Newry, Derry, Belfast and elsewhere.

See this speech in context