Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 356: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on whether the current legal framework for dealing with illegal moneylenders is appropriate; if he proposes to make any amendment or bring forward any proposals in this area; the number of persons that have been prosecuted, convicted, fined and imprisoned for offences relating to illegal money lending in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4457/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The regulation of moneylending is a matter primarily for my colleague, the Minister for Finance. Legislative provisions relating to moneylending are contained in the Consumer Credit Act 1995. I am advised that no-one can act as a moneylender unless a licence to engage in such activity has been granted by the Central Bank/Financial Regulator. In circumstances where a member of An Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds to suspect that someone is operating as an unlicensed moneylender then that member can, under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1995, question without warrant such an individual and remove from that person any documentation necessary for further investigation. It has not been possible within the timeframe to gather the statistics requested by the Deputy. I will however revert to the Deputy in due course when the information requested comes to hand.