Imposing a cap on the cost of credit that moneylenders can charge is fundamentally a moral issue. In March, my legislation to put a cap on the interest moneylenders could charge was rejected by the Government. The argument deployed most often was that the cap on interest rates would lead to moneylenders leaving the market with borrowers being forced into the arms of illegal moneylenders.
My amendment would put in place a cap that this Dáil can morally stand over, one that could reduce the cost of credit moneylenders can charge, protecting consumers who are vulnerable to vicious cycles of debt, and reducing the interest they are charged. I do not have any sympathy for the industry, but if interest rates for moneylenders are reduced too much and too quickly, some moneylenders may cease operating and the availability of much-needed credit for many people could be reduced.
Key terms by TF-IDF across 1,117 words from 3 speakers. The summary quotes the highest-scoring sentences verbatim — nothing is paraphrased.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell; Níl, Deputies Jack Chambers and Brendan Griffin.
| Question | Result | Tá–Níl |
|---|---|---|
| Amendment put: | Lost | 60–71 |
| Amendment put: | Carried | 72–59 |
Party shown is the one each member held on 2022-05-25, frozen by a dated join — not their party today. The Oireachtas API publishes no date of birth and returns an empty gender field for every member in this period, so no age or gender breakdown is shown.