Departmental Strategies
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

I thank the Senator. I do not disagree with a word he said, in particular in respect of auto-enrolment. That is transforming retirement for many people in the future. It is a hugely important initiative. Equally, the Senator is talking about information when it comes to financial decisions that people make. He also mentioned there was €160 million in fraudulent payments last year and that is increasing.
This is not in my prepared reply but one of the ways we can perhaps try to manage that is to make sure there is enough publicity around the ways people can get into your mind. If you answer your phone and a person says someone is trying to use your card in Berlin, London, New York or Kilkenny to purchase an item, your automatic reaction is, "No, that is not me" and then you try to stop it with the person who is speaking to you, whereas the person who is speaking to you is almost certainly the person who is trying to defraud you. That kind of education is really important. Even people who think they know what they are dealing with still get caught time and time again. I know some of those people.
There is a lot of really good work going on in this area but, equally, we just need that little bit more so that people are not caught on the hop. People who think they know how to manage their financial affairs are sometimes the ones who are most vulnerable.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:11+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09