Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I welcome the acknowledgment by the Minister that these concerns need to be addressed and he is attempting to do so. That is vitally important for reasons on which we all agree. The credit unions were at pains to stress that they should not suffer the backlash as a result of the failures of other sectors of the financial services industry, the banking sector and so on, as we move to correctly regulate the banks and the financial services sector, whose reckless activities helped crash the economy, given that the sector has no responsibility for that crisis. The danger is that if the legislation is applied to them, they could be regulated in an inappropriate way that could undermine their fundamental ethos and character. It is vitally important that does not happen. As has been mentioned, they were alarmed that it was proposed that legislation that applies to the rest of the banking sector was to apply to credit unions given that it had not been discussed at the Commission on Credit Unions. I welcome the fact that the Minister will examine the issue. To allay concerns is it his intention to seek to amend the wording in conjunction with the Irish League of Credit Unions and on the basis of agreement with it. That is what should be done as it knows the sector best. Whatever amendments the Minister proposes to deal with these concerns should be in accord with its views and wishes.