This article is from page 53 of the 2013-12-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 53 JPG
PEOPLE in Kilrush who have fallen prey to those operating an illegal money-lending racket in the town have been told not to bow to intimidation to pay up their debts at extortionist interest rates.
The call was sounded out in the run into Christmas by Gardaí in the wake of a swoop on those believed to be behind the moneylending operation in the town and wider West Clare.
Eleven people were arrested after local members of the Garda, assisted by Criminal Assets Bureau, Regional Support Unit, and Special Detec- tive Units from Galway, the National Criminal Intelligence Unit as well as officials from Revenue, Social Welfare and Clare County Council staged a series of raids on properties in Kilrush.
Anumber of premises were searched and a total of 11 people were arrested following the searches. Those arrested were later released without charge and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The operation had commenced at 7am on the Tuesday, traditionally Children’s Allowance day in Kilrush.
According to locals in Kilrush, gardaí will find it very difficult to convince people to testify in any cases brought before the courts as a result of this operation.
“There is no doubt about it,” said The Clare People source in Kilrush, “but they won’t get anyone in Kilrush to testify against these people. Even the people who were beaten up and the person who got his hand broken by moneylenders won’t testify. It just won’t happen.”
The investigation, had been ongoing for several months, centres around complaints received from various individuals and is focused on those suspected of being engaged in unlicensed money lending. In June 2012 it was The Clare People that broke the story of the moneylending crisis in Kilrush, revealing that those in Kilrush who had fallen on hard times financially were living in the grip of fear as a number of moneylenders stalked the town, demanding repayments for loans that have been given out at extortionist interest rates. “Everybody knew that this was going on,” The Clare People source revealed this week, “that people were lending money and demanding huge interest rates – if you borrowed € 100, you had to pay € 10 back a week,” he added.