Mr. Ronan Hession:

It is a very topical question and there is ongoing discussion with colleagues in the Department of Finance and the wider range of groups in the social housing sector. There is a thicket of agencies, Departments and initiatives in the area. For some time credit unions have been expressing an interest in using some of the surplus funds they are holding on low yield investments in banks in some form of State-sponsored project consistent with their ethos and community focus. As far as I am aware, there have been more direct discussions between the credit union movement and some players. As I do not know the details of the social housing initiative, I will not speculate on how it will play out, except to say it seems to be something that resonates with the credit union ethos. It could have the potential to allow credit unions to broaden their investments.

The Deputy specifically asked about the legislative point.

This came up earlier. One of the concerns the credit union movement raised about the recent reform legislation was that the type of investment restrictions that were allowable under the Central Bank regime, would not permit this type of thing. The way it happens is that the high-level principles are in the legislation and the Central Bank then goes on to spell it out in its more detailed regulatory requirements. There was an amendment made at that time to address that point to ensure if there were viable opportunities for credit unions to engage in things such as social housing, there would not be a legislative block. A change was made to try to accommodate that. The point I made to Deputy Dowds, who raised this in the early stages of this session, was that there is interest from credit unions and other players in putting money into social housing. The nut to be cracked is how to get the return - how to get their money back - if it is to be an investment.