Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Feb 2002

Vol. 547 No. 3

Written Answers. - Pyramid Selling.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

The Office of the Attorney General has considerable doubts as to whether "gifting schemes" are covered by the Pyramid Selling Act, 1980. The difficulty lies in the application of the Act to the provision of "goods or services, or both". As neither goods nor services appear to be involved in these types of schemes, the prohibition provisions in the 1980 Act appear not to be applicable. The gardaí who enforce the Act take the view that these schemes are not covered by the Act. I am aware of the Deputy's Private Members' Bill on the subject and my Department is studying it at present.

The main difficulty with any legislation seeking to deal with a complex problem of this kind is to steer a course between making very specific provisions which may be circumvented by future developments of the targeted schemes and, on the other hand, catching bone fide arrangements such as savings and spending schemes. We are, however, still exploring the legislative option as well as administrative steps that might be taken.

Meanwhile, I would repeat my previous warnings that people should be extremely cautious in investing their money in schemes which appear to be too good to be true.