Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I do not doubt the previous speaker's commitment, of the last three speakers on the Government side we have heard about illegal moneylending, suicide prevention and banking issues, including mortgage arrears and businesses. Why do we need to bring people in to tell us things we already know?

The Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Fund Bill 2014, was non-political and non-adversarial. We ran after each other to vote against it, which is doing precisely what Senator Mullins wanted. The Family Home Bill 2011 proposed to make the family home sacrosanct from repossession. The Debt Settlement and Mortgage Resolution Office Bill 2011 would have put a veto on the banks to prevent them treating people with the contempt to which Senator Mullins referred. A previous speaker referred to the Criminal Justice (Unlicensed Money-Lending) Bill 2013. I suggest it is not the Minister for Finance but rather the Minister for Justice and Equality who should deal with this legislation. There is no political appetite to deal with these issues. There is no shortage of proposed legislation. Senator Mullins knows well that we do not want to waste our time nor do we wish to create the facade that something is happening just by bringing organisations into this Chamber so that they can tell what we know we need to do.