Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue that Senator Noone raised, in respect of the HMV voucher scandal. In the past few days I have spoken to several customers of the chain who bought vouchers as Christmas gifts only to find now that they are worthless. It is quite clear that HMV has taken unfair advantage of thousands of its customers in Ireland by allowing their stores to continue to sell gift vouchers and cards when it well knew that there was very little or no prospect of those vouchers or gift cards ever being redeemed by their customers. In effect that made millions of euros worth of vouchers in Ireland worthless overnight. Now it seems to be applying different rules to its UK customers. While the writing was on the wall for the company, directors and management must have known that it was at real risk of failure yet it continued to sell these gift cards and vouchers throughout the Christmas period until the day it went into receivership. That raises serious questions about the management and the directors of the company who must have been aware of the real risk of receivership given that it is my understanding that they had been in talks with their banks since early December.

We must be mindful that obtaining money by deception is a criminal offence and by allowing the stores to continue to sell vouchers and gift cards when the company knew there was no prospect of their ever being redeemed this could arguably be a grounds for a criminal action. In the circumstances I call on the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, who has responsibility for consumer affairs, Deputy Richard Bruton, to come into the House to discuss and debate the legality of what this unscrupulous business has done and foisted upon many thousands of unsuspecting customers, and to discuss the necessary steps which must be taken to strengthen our legislative armour in this regard.