Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I am sure it has taken weeks for officials in the Department of Finance to correct this legislation. We, however, are expected to figure out what is involved in 24 hours. It will not be surprising if other difficulties arise in due course, even though we are supposed to have debated the Bill thoroughly. We are in the dark on many aspects of the legislation. It is disturbing to see Ministers coming into this House to propose that entire sections should be deleted.

The store cards offered by many large retail stores are effectively a form of credit for regular customers. Will these stores be required, under this legislation, to obtain authorisation from the Financial Regulator before issuing such cards?

Subsection (7) of section 29A, as inserted by amendment No. 4, states that lending institutions must "publish in Iris Oifigiúil a notice of every exemption granted, and every revocation made". However, subsection (8) goes on to state that failure to comply with subsection (7) "does not affect the validity of an exemption granted, or a revocation made, under this section". This is contradictory. What is the point in asking banks to publish notice of exemptions or revocations if there is no sanction for not doing so? Either subsection (7) or subsection (8) should be deleted so that the requirement is necessary or it is not. It may actually work that way. The excuse may be used that there may be an oversight on the bank's behalf in informing the relevant authorities and the exemption should be allowed to stand. Why was the section put in this fashion?

I regret that it is very difficult for me to examine this matter deeply because I am unsure of what currently stands. We should have had a wider debate on the matter but this is the last time it can be discussed before it must go through the Dáil later this afternoon. This is another indication of legislation being dealt with badly, which is ridiculous.