Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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45. To ask the Minister for Finance the action that will be taken to deal with the very serious issues raised in the Raidió Teilifís Éireann "Primetime" programme on 5 February 2015, regarding a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6228/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank has informed me that it cannot comment on its engagement with individual entities.

The Bank has also informed me that the company to which the question refers is not regulated by the Central Bank.  The Central Bank Act 1997 contains a number of exclusions from the requirement to be authorised by the Central Bank and firms that meet the relevant criteria can avail of such exclusions.  Separately, this Act also contains a number of exemptions from the requirement to be authorised by the Central Bank.  To date the Central Bank has granted an exemption to 14 entities but Home Funding Corporation Limited is not one of the entities granted such an exemption.

The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 will protect borrowers in the situation described in the programme when it is enacted.

It will do this by requiring the entities dealing with the consumer to be authorised by the Central Bank and subject to its Codes of Conduct.  Dealing with the consumer is credit servicing and the definition of credit servicing is broad. Owners of loan books who deal directly with consumers, that is, who are servicing their own loan books, will be regulated. Otherwise they can have the loan book serviced by a regulated credit servicing firm.

Some of the allegations made in the programme allege criminal wrongdoing and this is a matter for An Garda Síochána.

In Ireland, money laundering has been treated as a very serious offence since the passing of the

The law in this area was updated by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended by Part 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 2013 ("the Act"). The Act transposes the current European Union Law on AML (the Third Money Laundering Directive (2005/60/EC) and its Implementing Directive (2006/70/EC)) into Irish Law.