A company called Dolphin Trust, whose nerve centre is in Ireland, has lost billions of investors' money, Sinn Féin's Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty has told the Dáil.
Mr Doherty said the company is based in Ireland and is under investigation in Germany.
He said more than 1,800 "ordinary people" from this country - some with investments of around €40,000 - have lost money in Dolphin Trust.
Mr Doherty told the Dáil that up to 20,000 people around the world will lose money in what he described as "the wild west of financial markets".
Mr Doherty asked Tánaiste Leo Varadkar what action the Government took when issues about Dolphin Trust were first flagged in 2016.
Mr Varadkar said he is not aware of the Cabinet being informed of this issue in 2016. However, he said that maybe someone, somewhere in the system of Government, might have been told about it.
He told Mr Doherty that he will try to get a more detailed response from the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.
Mr Varadkar expressed sympathy for the small investors who had lost money in the investment company.
