Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The witness sits on the implementation committee and I am trying to understand the position of the Department of Finance. What is its position regarding the potential of the credit union movement, which is sitting on a myriad of assets? Many of the credit unions have restructured already, so please do not tell us that there is a further process to be undertaken. The bulk of the larger credit unions that are sitting on massive reserves and have potential. They say they are going around in circles to Departments and the regulator but nothing is moving on this matter. Why is that the case? Is it the case that the Department and the Central Bank are taking a view that they do not want the credit union movement to move into these spaces? I hear words such as "innovation". I was formerly a Minister of State with responsibility for innovation. What does it mean? What does business model development mean? Many credit unions have moved into smart payments and so forth. They are trying to innovate in the products and services they are providing, but it appears that they are constrained in doing that. I cannot understand why and I am not getting answers here either.