Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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166. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to regulate the actions of so called vulture funds operating within the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6158/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act, 2015 was enacted on 8 July 2015 and was introduced to augment the consumer protection framework to address those circumstances where loans were sold by the original lender to an unregulated firm. The 2015 Act introduced a regulatory regime for a new type of entity called a 'credit servicing firm'.  Credit Servicing Firms are now subject to the provisions of Irish financial services law that apply to 'regulated financial service providers'. This ensures that relevant borrowers, whose loans are sold to third parties, maintain the same regulatory protections they had prior to the sale, including under the various statutory codes (such as the Consumer Protection Code, Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears, Code of Conduct for Business Lending to Small and Medium Enterprises and the Minimum Competency Code) issued by the Central Bank of Ireland and the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48) (Lending to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) Regulations 2015 which come into operation on 1 July 2016.

Landlord-tenant relations are also governed by multiple pieces of legislation (mainly under the aegis of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government) and the landlord/owner of the property is restricted in what they can do in relation to removal of tenants from a property. I understand that these restrictions are the same whether the landlord bought the property, built the property themselves, became a landlord as a result of renting out what was formerly a principal dwelling house or acquired the property by other means such as enforcing loans secured on the property.

In relation to SMEs or farm borrowers, the Credit Review Office helps those who have had an application for credit of up to €3 million declined or reduced by the main banks, and who feel that they have a viable business proposition.  In addition, the Credit Review Office website, , contains an article with useful information to assist borrowers whose loan has been sold on to another lender.