Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

317. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that company cars are generally leased on long-term leases meaning that persons with such cars are tied into long-term leases which they cannot readily terminate (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63878/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I understand that the Deputy is referring to hire purchase agreements on a business-to-business basis.

Consumer type agreements are regulated by the Central Bank and under recent legislation - the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Retail Credit and Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2022 – it was provided that any entity which provides directly or indirectly credit, hire purchase and consumer hire agreements to a relevant person falls within the authorisation scope of the Central Bank and accordingly it will be able to apply any code or regulation it makes to such a regulated entity.

However, hire purchase agreements on a business-to-business basis are currently not regulated by the Central Bank. These business-to-business agreements are a matter of contract law between those businesses involved.

However, the Minister notes the Retail Banking Review examined the provision of credit to SMEs and other related issues. Its recommendations, which were approved by Government in November 2022, include, inter alia, that:

‘Following consultation with stakeholders, the Department of Finance should prepare legislation to require providers of credit to SMEs to be authorised and supervised by the Central Bank, so that all SME borrowers benefit from the protections of the Central Bank’s SME Regulations’.