Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, is very welcome to the Chamber this morning.

I welcome Ireland's first national financial literacy strategy and the recent publication of the first annual review and action plan for the period 2026 to 2027. It is a comprehensive piece of work and demonstrates that the Government recognises that financial literacy is no longer simply about understanding money. It is about consumer protection, financial literacy and confidence throughout every stage of people's lives.

I also welcome the progress being made, as outlined in the review. More than 170,000 students have participated in financial literacy programmes. Financial literacy is now being embedded in the new primary mathematics curriculum, and the action plan rightly places increased emphasis on fraud awareness, pensions and financial well-being. Those are significant achievements and deserve to be recognised. However, one statistic in the strategy stood out to me more than any other: 43% of Irish adults do not meet the OECD minimum standard for financial literacy. Even more concerning, 44% do not meet the minimum standard for digital financial literacy. That means almost half of adults may not have the confidence or knowledge to safely navigate an increasingly digital financial world. While Ireland performs well internationally, those figures clearly show that there is still much work to be done.

As Fine Gael spokesperson on education and youth in the Seanad, I particularly welcome the strategy's recognition that financial literacy should begin early and that there are opportunities to strengthen it within the school curriculum, particularly through mathematics. We need to be ambitious about this. Every young person leaving secondary education should understand budgeting, taxation, savings, borrowing, mortgages, pensions, investing, consumer rights and, increasingly, how to recognise financial scams. While these may not be priorities for young people at this stage of their lives, they are life skills.

I have previously raised the issue of online fraud in this House. I believe the strategy can become one of the strongest tools in tackling it. Criminals are becoming more sophisticated every day. Artificial intelligence, cloned voices and highly convincing impersonation scams are now part of everyday life and are affecting everybody. No amount of legislation will prevent every fraud and no bank will stop every scam, but every person who understands the warning signs before clicking a link, transferring money or sharing personal information is one less opportunity for fraudsters to succeed. Every person who becomes more financially literate is one less opportunity for unscrupulous individuals to exploit. That is why improving financial literacy is not simply an education policy or a consumer protection policy; it is also one of the most effective fraud-prevention measures available to us.

The foundations have now been put in place. We have the strategy and the action plan. We have more than 100 actions. There are governance structures and funding in place. The question now is not whether we have enough ideas; it is whether we can increase the pace of delivery. The strategy recognises that there are already 55 stakeholders delivering around 110 financial literacy initiatives across Ireland. Its purpose is to support, co-ordinate and build on that excellent work rather than duplicate it.

My ask today is a practical one. Will the Minister ensure that the financial literacy executive board, the steering group and the annual stakeholder forum will actively identify organisations already delivering successful financial literacy programmes, evaluate what is working, share best practice nationally and support those initiatives to reach more people more quickly? Rather than reinventing the wheel, let us harness the expertise that already exists. Let us bring together schools, credit unions, employers, community organisations and charities, identify what is working, avoid duplication and accelerate delivery. That is exactly the collaborative approach envisaged in the strategy itself.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Senator very much for raising this issue. Financial literacy is an essential life skill and an important component of financial consumer protection, as the Senator clearly outlined. It does not just mean that individuals have financial knowledge; it also means that they have the skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary to manage their money well.

The national financial literacy strategy, as the Senator knows, was launched in 2025. Its mission is to improve levels of financial literacy across Ireland and, by doing so, improve individual financial well-being and resilience. This is a five-year stakeholder-led strategy. It has the aim of working with Ireland's vibrant financial literacy ecosystem to improve co-ordination, collaboration and cohesion in delivery.

The Senator asked specifically about measurable progress in delivering on this vision. He mentioned figures of 44% and 43%. I had a quick look at the report and noted he is right about those. It is also true to say, however, that Ireland performs well when it comes to financial literacy. In fact, we are placed second among all the EU countries in the OECD report whose statistics the Senator mentioned. Of course, our level is not good enough and we have an awful lot more to do, but equally, and having regard to what our peers are doing, the figures show we are making genuine progress.

The Senator asked about the ongoing work to support financial literacy through the strategy. Last month, the strategy's 2025 review and action plan were published. They highlighted some of the successes that have taken place. For example, there were over 55,000 individual in-person engagements with financial literacy programmes by adults and nearly 170,000 individual engagements with financial literacy programmes by students.

Looking forward, there are more than 100 actions in the 2026-27 action plan. These cover areas such as digital financial literacy, understanding credit, managing debt, retail investor education, SME financial literacy and, as the Senator mentioned, fraud, including scams. On 10 June, the Tánaiste joined 65 stakeholders from across the financial literacy ecosystem to discuss how we could build on those successes and advance the strategy's mission. Among the building blocks is an initiative of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, the statutory body with responsibility for financial education. It has developed and launched a new set of money tools on its website, providing free and impartial financial information to support consumers to compare financial products and make the best financial decisions for their needs. The Department of Social Protection has supported consumer and employer understanding of auto-enrolment through awareness-raising. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, delivered 185 money-management education events right across Ireland, reaching almost 5,000 people. Investment education will be one of the focuses of the strategy for the next 18 months, alongside the development of the new investment account.

The Senator also mentioned fraud, including scams. Only in the last week, somebody I know very well came very close to having their accounts cleared. This is an intelligent person who has been using banking systems for a long time. Had that person been asked whether they would ever be caught, they would have said no. The telephone calls sounded so reasonable and so normal. When asked how the weather was in Dublin, the caller was actually able to respond, even though the call did not come from Dublin.

There is a lot of education needed, and individuals need to know that every single one of us, including the Senator and me, can be caught. Therefore, care is essential.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her detailed answer. I acknowledge the progress that has been made and our position in second place, but as she said herself, we need to avoid complacency. The Central Bank reported last year that €160 million worth of fraudulent payments were made in Ireland in 2024 alone.That is a 24.5% increase on the previous year, while the volume of fraud increases by 40%. That message is replicated by what I hear from gardaí all across the country as well.

In my own county of Roscommon, a company called Linked Wellbeing has developed a financial well-being platform that improves financial confidence through education, practical budgeting tools and signposting of trusted public services. It is one example of the innovation that already exists in Ireland and demonstrates that many of the solutions we need are already being developed on the ground.

I agree with the Tánaiste's comments at the launch of the action plan that our ambition must be greater still. Our financial lives are changing faster than ever before. Auto-enrolment, as the Minister of State said herself, is transforming how people save for retirement. Banking is increasingly digital. Investment opportunities are becoming more accessible. Fraud is becoming more sophisticated. If those changes continue - and they will - then the need for financial literacy will only become greater. That is why I believe the pace of implementation should match the pace at which people's financial lives are changing, so that every person in Ireland has the confidence, knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions throughout every stage of their lives.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Senator. I do not disagree with a word he said, in particular in respect of auto-enrolment. That is transforming retirement for many people in the future. It is a hugely important initiative. Equally, the Senator is talking about information when it comes to financial decisions that people make. He also mentioned there was €160 million in fraudulent payments last year and that is increasing.

This is not in my prepared reply but one of the ways we can perhaps try to manage that is to make sure there is enough publicity around the ways people can get into your mind. If you answer your phone and a person says someone is trying to use your card in Berlin, London, New York or Kilkenny to purchase an item, your automatic reaction is, "No, that is not me" and then you try to stop it with the person who is speaking to you, whereas the person who is speaking to you is almost certainly the person who is trying to defraud you. That kind of education is really important. Even people who think they know what they are dealing with still get caught time and time again. I know some of those people.

There is a lot of really good work going on in this area but, equally, we just need that little bit more so that people are not caught on the hop. People who think they know how to manage their financial affairs are sometimes the ones who are most vulnerable.