Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As always, it is good to see the Minister of State. Sinn Féin supports the Bill, albeit with reservations as we believe it only does the bare minimum required. It is another Bill deriving from an EU directive aimed at protecting the collective interests of consumers. Prior to that EU legislation, there was no tool across the EU to allow consumers in mass harm situations to litigate and be represented in large groups by another entity. The tracker mortgage scandal here in Ireland is an example of a group of people who were treated badly by Irish banks but were denied access to justice simply due to the high costs involved in taking cases to the courts. This directive being transposed should mean that, for the first time in Irish law, a group of consumers will be able to take an action through a qualified entity as it creates a process for groups of consumers to enforce their rights.

The Law Reform Commission has had concerns in respect of this area of law since 2005. Sinn Féin has been campaigning for the introduction of a comprehensive multi-party action system. In the previous Dáil term, my colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire, then Sinn Féin spokesperson on justice, introduced the Multi-Party Actions Bill 2017. In January 2018, the European Commission published a report and study on collective redress mechanisms in member states. It found there was "no dedicated mechanism for bringing collective claims in Ireland" and continued: "Rather, mass claims are dealt with under the general rules of civil procedure which only allow for collective claims in very limited circumstances." The transposing of this directive is welcome. Sinn Féin believes there is scope for the Bill to broaden the narrow interpretation of the legislation rather than having a Bill that just does the minimum that is required. Ireland has been found to be severely lacking in providing fair access to multi-party action compared with other jurisdictions. If the Bill is not strengthened, it may continue to be found lacking in that regard.

I wish to be clear that in advocating for a comprehensive multi-party action procedure, Sinn Féin seeks reforms that are carefully balanced. It is important to prevent spurious and excessive litigation but we cannot let that fear prevent us from going a little further and broadening the Bill sufficiently to capture those who need access to justice. The legislation places considerable administrative burdens on the qualified entity. My colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, tried to bring forward amendments to improve the Bill in that respect. We will likely bring forward similar amendments on Committee Stage here in the Seanad. It is important that we use this opportunity to ensure the Bill goes far enough to fully transpose not just the bare minimum of the directive, but also the spirit and intention of the legislation in providing fair access to justice.