Mark Dearey (Green Party)

I raise the necessity for proof of identity to be provided when people engage in an exchange of gold for cash. As the Minister of State will know, this phenomenon is growing in towns and cities. One sees freestanding units in shopping centres to which people can go to a person equipped with a weighing scales to have gold assessed, following which an exchange of money takes place. The problem is that the presentation of identification by the person bringing the gold is not mandatory, which means people may sell gold which is not their own. There is no way of tracing their identity in the event that another person arrives and claims the gold was his or hers.

Many other Senators have come across this issue, as has the Minister I am sure. I met a constituent who told me his mother's house had been burgled but only gold had been taken; nothing else had been touched. The Garda immediately formed the view that the burglary had taken place in order that the gold could be exchanged for cash and that if proper identification was required before such exchanges could take place, it would mitigate the number of such surgical robberies simply because cash can be obtained easily for gold on an anonymous basis.

I look forward to the Minister of State's response to this matter which I consider to be urgent, in particular because it appears older people are left very vulnerable to robbery. I would see presentation of proof of identity as a measure that would not only regulate what can otherwise be a dubious exchange but also provide a greater degree of protection for those who have heirlooms and articles in their homes for which they have great personal affection and who fear they are increasingly being targeted on that account.