Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to spend a brief period of time talking about young people being targeted by criminals laundering money. It is certainly very disturbing to read Conor Lally's article in today's edition of The Irish Timeswhere we are told that 3,000 money mules have been used and €12 million from fraud deposited into those accounts. The sad thing about this is that many young people under financial pressure between the ages of 18 and 24 are becoming the victims of this. This is going to lead to all sorts of trouble for these young people. It will mean they will have a criminal record and they are getting tied up with undesirables. That is the reality.

Bank intelligence showed, according to Conor Lally's article, that the average transaction was €4,000. This is shocking and this is what drug culture and drug issues are doing to people. Now we have these criminals using young people. This was a massive issue in England some years ago and still is. We have to do everything in our power as Oireachtas Members to try to combat this.

I appeal to all young people today if they have money issues to talk to their family and their parents, even to their local politician. I urge the financial institutions to look at some sort of scheme with a low interest rate where people who are in difficulty in terms of finances could approach their banks or credit union. We do not want people going down this road. It will cause so much destruction to families and young people and we have to try to stamp it out. I reiterate my appeal to young people who are running into those financial difficulties, to turn their backs on these criminals and not to become a money mule because it will lead to a lot of trouble in their lives, their families' life and for society. We need to stamp this out.