Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses, most of whom I have known for a good while. We know what is needed. We know what medicine is required in rural parts of Ireland. We have seen the new land agency and Mr. Farrell and Mr. Johnson are here from the credit unions. My understanding is that credit unions are not allowed to lend money in the new land agency context. That shows the unwillingness to even think about credit unions. The first thing one has to do is think about someone. If I want money to buy something, the first thing I do is contact the credit union. However, credit unions have not even been thought about in the context of the new land agency. The attitude is that we will just go for the commercial option. Credit unions are being stymied. The big problem for them is that they have a great deal of money. If they have money that is not attracting a return in terms of interest, they are in trouble. Any business which does not make money will not survive. Mr. Maye has travelled the country, north, south, east and west. I have fought with and against Mr. Boland down through the years. The Chairman and I are always talking about people being whipped out of their houses and about the housing crisis. We are blue in the face from talking about it. The bottom line is that we can publish all the reports in the world, but the people who matter do not want to make the decisions.

They would rather ensure that vulture funds, rather than someone in Ireland, are catered for. They would rather ensure that we borrow money in order to ensure that someone in Europe is made up than to help some community get a few per cent in interest under a community banking model. I get so fed up when I talk about this for a simple reason. Decisions are made by the Central Bank. As we know from a year ago, to get a small movement in the Central Bank is like trying to put a jigsaw together over months. One ends on one's backside and one has to get up and go forward again.

Those of us from rural Ireland know that AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank do not want to be there. They have let people go. They left most small towns once the State came to their rescue and bailed them out. They do not give two damns about small villages. If we had a public banking model along with the credit union sector, they would open branches in places where there is a pub and a shop and facilitate people. One could put in a loan application on a Monday and get a phone call by Wednesday night to say whether it had been approved. To be fair, most people are helped. It is about whether the decision to facilitate what is envisaged is made by the Central Bank and, perhaps, the ECB. The Chairman would know more about that than I. Ultimately, there needs to be a willingness in government. A Government cannot say something has to be done, but it can create the environment and push the buttons behind the scenes to make it happen. It is a sad thing to say to the witnesses. They have travelled the roads and will continue to do so because they are believers. That is rightly so. However, it depends on whether the will is there. People will probably look at the polls and vote for the same Tweedledum and Tweedledee who are still screwing rural Ireland by not giving us the facility to use our own money to build infrastructure, etc., in our areas and help those who would invest in public banks or the credit unions to get a return. However, the will does not seem to be there. Everyone will tell the witnesses that they are great fellows. Their heads would nearly swell up with everyone telling them they are good. The bottom line, however, is whether there is action. Unless we get action, we are going nowhere.