I am sad to have to raise this issue about a scrap and precious metal dealers Bill, which I introduced here in November 2011. It was debated in 2012. The Minister for Justice and Equality rejected the Bill despite cross-party support. Since then there has been report after report. There was a report from the national metal theft forum, which recommended that Oireachtas Joint Committees should examine the matter. This has not happened.
I reintroduced the Bill in 2014 after the then Minister had rejected it in 2012 and promised to introduce his own legislation. I introduced eight amendments which he had suggested were necessary and, sadly, the current Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, rejected it. Lo and behold, only ten days ago the Minister, the Department and the Government announced a public consultation. It is a complete whitewash and a sham, an effort to get them past the election. All they had to consult were the homes, the families, communities, the Georgian Society, the ESB, Irish Rail, the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA. All these groups and families have been devastated by brutal attacks on their property and, above all, on their homes. One's home is one's castle. Very valuable artefacts have been taken. In Portlaoise, a monument erected on a motorway to 23 or 24 dead young people was unceremoniously cut down and taken away. Hospitals have been attacked. Precious gold and items with sentimental value, passed down through generations, have been taken from people's homes. Some of those items can be put in an envelope and sold to a cash-for-gold outlet and the money is returned in the post. I ask the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is standing in for the Minister for Justice and Equality, to consider this and act. The Garda Síochána supports it but needs the tools of the trade to tackle these roving criminals and monstrous people who do awful damage to protected and listed buildings but, above all, to people’s homes and person.
My short scrap and precious metal Bill had four aims, including that precious metals and all transactions be recorded and that there be a waiting period for anybody who received an item or sold it on. Whether it is scrap metal or rings, jewellery or watches of sentimental value, the receiver should hold the item for 30 days in order that the seller or owner, and the Garda, would have a chance to identify it, if it was traced. This would ensure items were not melted down the morning after. The third aim of my Bill was that the Garda should have access to all the files and the books. The Revenue Commissioners have access to all businesses. I am a businessman. The Health and Safety Authority has access. Why can this matter not be regulated?
The final aim was to set penalties for the precious metal dealers. The penalties were pretty saucy but they were needed so that, for example, I could not sell to the Minister of State, or vice versa, or to anybody else, without having a personal public service, PPS, number, and the value added tax, VAT, number of the trader. All businesses, from farmers to hairdressers, must comply with regulations and have their books ready for audit. This is a rogue’s industry. It is a paradise for them. The Government is either unable or unwilling to deal with this issue. I do not know why. It is visiting trauma on families and communities as precious artefacts are exported and melted down. When I introduced my Bill, some speakers said that gates at level crossings in Dublin had been taken down. The signals were taken down at Limerick Junction. There could be a head-on crash. Aviation equipment that sends signals to aeroplanes trying to land at and take off from Dublin Airport and other places has been taken.
It is a nightmare. There is a desperate accident waiting to happen, quite apart from the trauma visited on ordinary people, their property and personages. The Minister will go down in history for neglecting to deal with this severe crisis. She need only take the simple legislation that is before her, amend it, bring it to committee and debate it. I am not saying my Bill is perfect but it is something. Action is needed here, not more consultation.
