Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I join the call of Senator Wilson for a debate on a very important issue. I reiterate my call of last week for an urgent debate on the issue of unauthorised and illegal money lending, but also on some legal forms of money lending. There are reputable UK plcs, calling door-to-door in this country, which are not using the normal underwriting criteria. They are offering people, who are at their most desperate, money with interest rates in excess of 150% APR. It is a disgrace. We need to legislate on it very quickly, especially given people's urgent needs in these difficult days.

Second, I am concerned about illegal moneylending, which came to my attention in a recent discussion with some members of the Garda. I also mentioned it last week. Elements from the criminal world are lending money to people, again when they are at their most desperate, and then heavy-handedly seeking repayment, threatening effectively to kill people or to perpetrate a variety of other crimes. We are not providing adequate protection for people. It should be enough to have a superintendent's testimony that a person is engaged in illegal moneylending and threatening behaviour of this nature. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should introduce legislation to deal with that as a matter of urgency. I would appreciate it if the Leader could arrange those debates.