Over the last couple of months, we have become all too familiar with scam telephone calls and text messages. This week, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, published data which showed a 40% increase in fraud by comparison with this time last year. This month alone, I have received ten scam text messages and dozens of scam telephone calls. My constituents report being inundated with scam text messages and telephone calls to the point where they are now sceptical of every call and text they receive. That is wrong. These text messages and telephone calls are from people purporting to be from reputable bodies such as the Department of Social Protection, An Garda Síochána, the HSE, An Post and delivery services. Besides being terribly annoying, they are a threat to the vulnerable among us, in particular older people who might not be tech savvy and as such fall victim to some of these scams. People who are living alone are feeling harassed and intimidated by the frequency of these scam text messages and telephone calls. What action can Government take to crack down on these scam text messages and telephone calls, many of which are falsely claiming to be from Government offices?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I was struck by the CSO data as well and by anecdotal evidence from people telling me about an increase in the number of scam attempts to which they have been subjected. I am not entirely sure what the Government can do about it, particularly when so much of this originates from overseas but I will discuss it with my colleagues at Government level to see if we can respond in some way.