David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator MacSharry and his Fianna Fáil party for tabling the Bill and a Private Members' Bill. The more legislation that is introduced in the House the better. Far too often motions are tabled and my party is as guilty of that as any other. We are here to legislate and we have valuable legislation before us this evening.

Unfortunately, we are all becoming too familiar with moneylending. Many families enter our constituency offices on a weekly basis. They have told us about their concerns about unscrupulous moneylenders. It is a traumatic experience for people who are in their grip.

Over the past six years more families have fallen prey to moneylenders, unlicensed moneylenders in the first instance but also licensed ones, who have acted in an unscrupulous manner. The illegal moneylenders are of greater concern to us all. Credit has increasingly become harder to secure and has led to people going to moneylenders. There is high unemployment, wage cuts and social welfare cuts. A range of benefits have been cut over the past five years in six budgets. People are trying to pay their domestic bills even though they have less money in their pockets, less social welfare or have lost their jobs.

As a previous Senator remarked, people must pay high mortgages that they cannot afford. Families are under all sorts of pressures to pay basic bills. Any of the charities that work with those who are vulnerable will tell us that, increasingly, they are going to moneylenders to pay for basic bills. There must be something wrong with that. We must recognise that as a wrong which needs to be corrected. Unfortunately, it is part of the impact of the wider austerity agenda on families. According to Social Justice Ireland, the State's poorest families experienced a disposable income drop of almost 18.7% in 2000 alone, at the height of the Celtic tiger. One can imagine how much worse matters have become for those families since, especially from 2008 onwards.

The "What's Left" tracker 2012, which was published by the Irish League of Credit Unions, provides a graphic picture of the human face behind these figures. The report stated that 1.6 million families are left with €100 or less each month when bills are paid. That is a staggering number of families who are left with that level of disposable income. When they are faced with increasing bills and an inability to get credit from banks or wherever, it is quite easy to see how many fall prey to moneylenders.

We also must acknowledge that there is considerable variety in the types of moneylenders. Many are perfectly honest, above board, well-equipped, have proper procedures in place and deal with people in a fair way. The word "moneylending" has negative connotations, but there are persons engaged in moneylending who are licensed moneylenders who behave in a responsible way. Equally, there are many who do not and there are many unscrupulous ones.

We all have heard worrying and upsetting stories about the behaviour of some of the more unscrupulous moneylenders, especially when it pertains to debt collection. Senator Marie Moloney gave an example of a company - it was not a moneylender - pursuing her for a small sum of money. I certainly have had many stories recounted to me in my constituency office of persons who are being chased and harassed by moneylenders who are linked to big criminal gangs in Cork, Dublin and Limerick for money they owe. In fact, I had a meeting with the chief superintendent in Waterford a year ago where there was one gang that was trying to control a housing estate and its communities and using moneylending as a way to get a grip on those communities. In fairness, the Garda has been proactive in dealing with these individuals.

There is a need for tighter regulation in this area. Fianna Fáil's Bill is part of it, by putting a bar for a period on someone who has been convicted of the offence of unlicensed moneylending from communicating with or harassing any victims of that unlicensed behaviour. The offence of unlicensed moneylending covers not only those directly involved, face to face in the act of moneylending but also those directing or aiding the act. Dealing with the latter is vital, given that many of the more unscrupulous actors, as I stated earlier, get others to collect the debts for them. They adopt an arm's length approach. They lend the money but they have others collect it for them, and the type of practices used leave much to be desired.

Last year, my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty brought forward a Bill in the Dáil to deal with this issue. It was to amend the Consumer Credit Act 1995 to introduce a cap of 40% on the annual percentage rate a moneylender can charge a borrower. The rate of 40% is reasonable in that one could make a handsome profit on the back of that, yet that Bill was voted down by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The excuse given was that if the Bill was accepted, it could drive some moneylenders out of business. If the consequence of introducing such a Bill drives some moneylenders out of business, I am all in favour of it. If one cannot make a profit on the back of 40% APR, there is something seriously wrong.

We need more robust regulation and more supports. We need to take the matter seriously and ensure we do what we can to help those who are victims of moneylending.