Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The legislation is not retrospective in so far as we use the word in legal terms. It is very difficult to legislate retrospectively. However, the legislation will apply to all loans as defined, regardless of when they were acquired, thus capturing loan books that have already been sold, which is the net point. A similar approach was used in 2013 on debt management firms. Also, when the requirements for retail credit firm authorisation were introduced in 2007, existing non-deposit-taking lenders which up to then did not require authorisation from the Central Bank had to get the authorisation from it in order to continue their business. The Bill has transitional provisions to allow existing firms to seek and obtain authorisation from the Central Bank to continue to do business. It fully covers what Members want it to cover.

I do not want to get into the detail of the protocols the bank has but we will acquire them for Senator Sheahan. We will send him a copy of the obligations and how the Central Bank applies the protocols.