Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 6, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:“(c) the finance provider is a crowd funder which operates as a credit facility and its liquidity is sourced from the general public and provides loans to businesses in a peer to peer arrangement.

(d) the finance provider is a credit union which operates in Ireland under Central Bank regulations.”.

Much of the debate on the credit guarantee scheme from its inception has been about the fact that the banking system is broken. These are new products that have been designed to fill the gaps left by the banking system which is not working properly. We have, to all intents and purposes, an oligopoly in the State and need to make sure we have other elements in the credit system that can function properly and add to the choices for consumers of credit. The amendment deals with two unloved sectors of the credit ecosystem.

It is welcome that the Minister of State has broadened the credit facilities that may be used in the future under the Bill. However, on Second Stage I brought to his attention the necessity of using crowd funding as an opportunity for the State to funnel cash towards small businesses. In Britain, for example, 10% of all crowd funding loans are backed by the State. The sector is very small here and it is finding it hard to gain traction owing to the lack of backup from the State. That is why it is necessary for the Government to include crowd funding as part of the credit guarantee process.

The second area about which the amendment speaks is the credit union sector. We dealt with a Private Member's Bill recently and representatives of the credit union movement appeared before the joint committee. The credit unions stated they had €13 billion in capital for which they needed a home. They also referred to the fact that they were very well regulated and had come through the crash unscathed in comparison to the banking sector. In that context, I call on the Minister of State to make sure these two key components which will provide opportunities in the future, in terms of credit, are included.