Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are two issues in this area I wish to raise. The first relates to online banking and the second relates to online scams. I have raised these scams on numerous occasions over the past three years because I have been consistently contacted by people who have been affected and impacted by them. From the experiences of those I have been contracted by, it is particularly an issue at Christmas time, when people are under huge pressure and may fall for different types of scams more quickly. We know online banking is incredibly important and used by a huge number of people. We also have a large number of digital banks now, some of which have about 400,000 children using their junior accounts. In addition, over two thirds of young adults aged between 18 and 24 use digital banks. Having raised this issue over the past number of years, I do not see any real, active changes in that sphere to ensure there are protections, especially for people who may be more vulnerable to these scams. For an awful lot of young people, the only type of banking they use is in the digital sphere.

This rapid change we are seeing in how people are using banking shows that we need to have some kind of urgent response. We need to make sure there is security, especially for those who may be vulnerable to scams, but also to ensure there is adequate customer service. Often, when people are scammed the only assistance they can get is through chatbots, rather than being able to attend a physical location or contact a human being. This Dáil needs to start taking this issue seriously because in the past three years, I have not seen anything actively change in that regard.

The other issue is the use of the digital world as a form of continuing abuse against women. I am referring in particular to domestic abuse being perpetrated through the digital sphere. We need to address these issues, especially tags being put into people's cars, handbags or whatever it may be, and tracking taking place. That is not looked at enough. Those two key issues are incredibly important and I ask the Minister to look at them.

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