Disinformation and payment fraud
Deputy Ó Murchú raised online hate and dangerous disinformation, and Deputy Farrell highlighted a Revolut fraud case affecting a young couple. The Taoiseach backed hate legislation and said the banking review and Central Bank issues would be followed up.
We are out of time. I asked for co-operation. Members say their issues are important. Everybody has tabled an important issue and it is important that everyone gets in. I will, with the Taoiseach’s co-operation, go on to the five who are left and take the six answers together. I ask Members to work with me on that.
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I raise the issue of online disinformation and hate. On Sunday, a man filmed himself as he seemed to knock down a cyclist on the Castletown Road in Dundalk and then posted the video. The Garda is investigating.
Concerning Carlingford, I have spoken to the Minister on the need for communication with the community but we have all been bombarded with online disinformation, conspiracy theories and hateful stuff. I have also seen videos where wrong addresses have been put up as being those of people who have committed crimes, which has endangered families. We need to ensure we have all the tools necessary to deal with this.
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I was contacted by a young couple at the weekend who have been saving for their wedding. They had saved a significant sum and, unfortunately, fell victim to a fraud on their Revolut account. That was raised on the Joe Duffy show and in the Irish Independent, and it trended on Twitter last night. It is important for us to use this platform to highlight the danger of that fraud over the Christmas period. The other concern is that the only way to complain or get in contact with Revolut is through a chatbot.
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Last Christmas Day, we had a flood in Wexford. Ten days later, a scheme opened. On 2 November, a month ago, we had a tornado in south County Wexford, as I have brought to the floor before. Last night they held their second meeting. I was the only Deputy for the county, for the second time, to attend with these families, who have suffered more than €1 million worth of damage between them. No scheme was mentioned. We met last week Oireachtas Members in County Wexford. In a week, nothing has come from Cabinet. We are a month out and people have no roofs on their houses. Please, Taoiseach, it is a month from Christmas.
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The residents of the Metropolitan complex in Inchicore, the Crescent buildings in Parkwest and the Tramyard complex need certainty about when a scheme for remedial works will open and be available to them. Talk of before Christmas and promises of meetings or a scheme coming are not good enough. They need clarity and certainty. Can we give an exact date for when they will get the help they need?
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The HSE has confirmed there will be an ambulance bypass of Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan and it will start on 12 December. It stated this is the first step in a two-step process to close the accident and emergency department in Navan and the second step will take place at the start of the new year. It is a scandal that this would happen in the middle of a winter surge, when hundreds of thousands of people have been on trolleys in this State over the past year, when we are out the door in terms of pressure in Navan and Drogheda, and when clinicians in Drogheda have said this step is dangerous to health.
Comment on this
Deputy Ó Murchú raised the issues of disinformation and hate. He identified shocking examples and the Minister has published hate legislation designed to go after people who do horrendous acts like that. There is no toleration of that.
On Deputy Mairéad Farrell's issue, I was not quite sure of the legislative response. She referred to fraud on a Revolut account and asked who someone could contact. There is an issue and the banking review published today deals with new technology banking companies, as well as the non-bank sector. I will come back to the Deputy from the Central Bank perspective with clarity around the regulatory context for Revolut and the measures it has.
The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, has been with the residents in relation to that tornado in Wexford. It was decided at Cabinet last week that it would come under a scheme along with other storm-ravaged areas. Because of the difference in the type of event, it being a tornado, there is the question of how to apply the scheme and so on but there will be a scheme. That has been announced.