Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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34. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department is considering new laws and regulations with respect to buy now pay later services which are entering the Irish market and raise considerable consumer protections concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9706/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Addressing the issue that firms offering consumer credit at the point of sale does not require authorisation by the Central Bank has been a key element of the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Retail Credit and Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2021.

Committee Stage of the Bill is due to take place on the 23rd of February 2022 and the Government will put forward an amendment to the Bill that will capture within the scope of the Consumer Credit Act ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) credit agreements provided to consumers, including where such agreements do not levy interest or impose any other charge on a consumer that are advertised to consumers.

This in turn will mean that the providers of those agreements will fall within the scope of Central Bank regulation.

This will be in line with the intended Government policy that both the direct and indirect providers of credit to consumers should be subject to Central Bank regulation and, therefore, the Central Bank will be able to apply the relevant provisions of its Consumer Protection Code (and where considered necessary other relevant codes or regulations) to all entities which advertise the provision of BNPL agreements (including interest and cost free BNPL agreements) to consumers.