In 1969 R.T.É.'s 7 Days dealt with the issue of illegal moneylending, claiming that Dublin was ‘a city of fear’ where 500 unlicensed moneylenders used violence as a tool to collect debts. The Fianna Fáil government rejected the suggestion that loan sharking was widespread and that Gardaí responses to it were ineffectual; a tribunal of inquiry was established to investigate 7 Days. Previous analyses situated these events within the context of government concerns over the influence of television journalism. This article takes a different approach, analysing moneylending ― rather than 7 Days ― within the context of the rediscovery of poverty during the 1960s. It examines how social and economic changes, including the growth of consumer credit and the re-housing of large numbers of Dubliners, combined to make illegal moneylending more visible. Historical accounts of Ireland in the 1960s have had a top down focus on economic policy and growth. Here, the focus is shifted to personal rather state finances to offer a more nuanced portrayal of a decade often understood as a boom one. Moreover, analysing the nature and conclusions of the tribunal lays bare the contemporary resistance to those attempting to reframe the problem of poverty.

1969 年，RTÉ. 的7 Days处理了非法放贷问题，声称都柏林是“一座充满恐惧的城市”，500 名无照放债人使用暴力作为收债的工具。Fianna Fáil 政府拒绝了有关放高利贷普遍存在以及警方对此的回应无效的说法。成立了一个调查法庭来调查7 天。先前的分析将这些事件置于政府对电视新闻影响的担忧的背景下。本文采用不同的方法，分析放债——而不是7 天——在 1960 年代重新发现贫困的背景下。它研究了社会和经济变化，包括消费信贷的增长和大量都柏林人的重新安置，如何结合起来使非法放贷更加明显。1960 年代爱尔兰的历史记录自上而下地关注经济政策和增长。在这里，重点转移到个人而非国家财务上，以更细致地描绘通常被认为是繁荣的十年。此外，对法庭性质和结论的分析揭示了当代对那些试图重新定义贫困问题的人的抵制。