I want to raise the issue of Dolphin Trust with the Tánaiste this morning. It is a Ponzi scheme, a scam that has 1,800 Irish victims who are to lose up to €108 million in pension savings. These are not well-heeled or seasoned investors, but ordinary people, some of whom have lost all of their life savings and pensions.

This centres around a German company called Dolphin Trust, renamed the German Property Group, and its director, Mr. Charles Smethurst. Dolphin told investors it would use their money to buy derelict buildings across Germany, turn them into luxury flats and apartments and sell them to German buyers. They promised high-interest returns and their original capital back. Dolphin Trust has now collapsed and owes investors around the world in the region of €3 billion. In Germany, it was reported that the properties held by Dolphin Trust would only be able to recover €100 million. British and German media have reported that investors' money, the money that they invested in their pensions and savings, was used by the director and his family to pay for parties, fashion shows, luxury items and rent.

The nerve centre of this operation was in Ireland, through Dolphin International Group, based in Cork. It marketed and processed the loan notes from 2012 and distributed commissions throughout the world. In the bonanza years, brokers were earning commissions of 20% and more. For a decade the loan notes were administered by a company called Wealth Options Trustees Limited, with all marketing and distribution of the loan notes handed over by Dolphin to the associated Wealth Options company in 2018. These companies, under the Wealth Options umbrella, are based in Naas, County Kildare, co-owned and co-directed by two Irish individuals, with Charles Smethurst himself also a director of the two Irish special purpose vehicles, SPVs, which channelled theses investments. During this time the directors of Wealth Options received more than €9 million, and paid themselves more than €4 million from 2018 when the Ponzi scheme was clearly unravelling.

German authorities are now investigating this scheme as investment fraud. It involves the misuse of the pensions and savings of in excess of 1,800 Irish people and it was clearly a scam. As I said, these are ordinary people, not with hundreds of thousands of euro but €20,000, €30,000 or €40,000 to invest in pensions. It is unlikely that these people will ever see the full value of their money - for some their entire life savings - and that is heartbreaking for them.

With Ireland in many ways the nerve centre of this scheme, which has ripped off more than 20,000 people and their savings worldwide, there are questions that need to be answered. In 2016, Wealth Options was contacted by the Central Bank and asked to provide details of the products, in particular, these loan notes, it was selling. In other words, the Central Bank was aware of the risks as far back as 2016 - indeed, it was reported at that time - of these high-risk, unregulated products that were compromising people's pensions and savings. Why was no action taken? Why did the Central Bank not alert people in terms of a notice on its website that there was an issue here? It was even after this time that the sales of these loan notes went through the roof, with the directors of Wealth Options paying themselves more than €4 million in 2018 and 2019 when the Ponzi scheme was clearly unravelling.

At its heart this scandal is regulatory failure of a dramatic nature. Wealth Options were regulated by the Central Bank and the brokers who sold the products were regulated by the Central Bank, but the products they marketed, distributed and sold are not. This is the Wild West of the financial market with no sheriff in sight and now 1,800 Irish people may not recover their pensions or life savings.

When the Government of which the Tánaiste was a member become aware of this in 2016, what actions, if any, did it take? What actions does the Government plan to take in response to this scandal today? Finally, there are hundreds of millions of euro of pensions invested in unregulated, high-risk loan note products. What action will the Government take to bring this market into the light and these products under robust regulation?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of Dolphin Trust. I am afraid I am not aware of all, or even many, of the facts in relation to this issue and I am reluctant to give an answer that may be incorrect. However, I want to express my sympathy to those affected, both here in Ireland and across Europe. These were small investors who have lost money, as the Deputy said.

On the questions relating to the Central Bank, the Central Bank, as the Deputy will be aware, is a regulator independent of Government. It is not possible for me to answer questions on behalf of the Central Bank but I am sure the Central Bank will answer questions in due course.

The Deputy asked what actions the Government took when it became aware of this in 2016. I am not aware that the Government became aware of this in 2016, certainly not the Government in the sense of the Cabinet in that if there was a Cabinet memorandum on it, I would or I ought to remember it. Perhaps the Department of Finance, the Minister for Finance or somebody in the system of government became aware of it. Without knowing who, when or what that was, again, it is difficult for me to answer the question properly but I will certainly inform the Minister for Finance that this was raised here in the Dáil today and ask him to give the Deputy any answers to any questions that he can.

I am sure those who have lost their life savings will be relieved that the Tánaiste sympathises with them but what they would rather have seen is action. In 2016, it was not a secret that the Central Bank was raising concerns regarding the high-risk loan notes and, indeed, Wealth Options. This was reported in the Irish Independent in 2016 by Mr. Charlie Weston and I am sure officials in the Department of Finance read the Irish Independent. If Mr. Weston was able to report it, I am sure the Department of Finance would be aware of it.

The problem is these are ordinary individuals. The brokers went to these individuals and told them to take their money out of pension investments that were regulated and put it into these type of products because the brokers were getting commission of more than 20%. These are unregulated products and they have lost their life savings. In some cases, they have been told that the investments are secured against properties that do not exist in Germany. In one case, a foreign individual was told that the folio number he has is in a location in Germany and when this was followed up, it is a German Army base.

Is it the Tánaiste's view that the Government will regulate these products and bring this area into light? The Tánaiste cannot say that it is nothing to do with the Government. It is Government that allows for regulation of this type of activity. Are we going to bring an end to this unregulated activity, which has sacrificed so many people's pensions up until now?

Obviously, this is a very serious matter, not only for the people who are directly affected. People will have questions and they will want answers. They should get those answers but, unfortunately, I am not the person who can offer those answers because this is not something that I have any detailed knowledge of but I will inform the Minister for Finance that it was raised here and ask him to answer any questions that he can.

I think the Deputy mentioned that these were unregulated products. If they were unregulated, that, in itself, creates a difficulty because the regulator is responsible for regulated products and services, not those that are unregulated. Perhaps the people who made these investments were not aware of that at the time or were misled in some way. Knowing so little about this, I am loath to give any answers.

I will inform the Minister for Finance that the Deputy has raised this. The Deputy would not raise it today in this forum if he did not think it was a serious matter. We will try and get him a more detailed response as soon as we can.