Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 October 2018

Public Accounts Committee

2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 10 - Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government
2017 Financial Statements - Housing Agency

9:00 am

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is an organisation with billions of euro that for years has been trying to give the Department money to build houses. This is the credit union movement. Everybody, starting with the banks, is determined to keep credit unions out of their sphere of activity. The Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, said just the other day in answer to a parliamentary question that one of the credit unions is ready, that it has gone through the process and has money available. He stated he could not be any clearer than this and it would be very helpful if it could be explored with housing officials - he must have been speaking about the departmental officials. He also stated that to be ready, a special purpose vehicle must conform to the Central Bank requirements and no other vehicle will be acceptable, presumably to the Central Bank. Will Mr. McCarthy talk me through this because I think I heard an announcement on my way here this morning that a credit union would be able to come into this but the Central Bank has restrictions on that credit union lending its money? I have said what the Minister of State, Damien English, stated very recently. Perhaps it was not scripted.

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