Mr. Charles Murphy:

This is my first time addressing such an august body, so please bear with me for a while if I falter on the words. I wish to make reference to what Deputy Eugene Murphy said about the commuter belt and people travelling to work. I represent the Irish League of Credit Unions but I am also a volunteer member of the board of an urban credit union in a community that shares the same problems as those facing rural communities. Reference was made to some of the problems facing communities. Approximately 70% of our population are travelling to work in Dublin every day to the detriment of our community. The credit union where I live supports the local forum and local industry. We give grants to them and we give loans wherever possible when people apply for them.

One problem is that we are a small credit union and regulation dictates that we cannot give loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, including farmers, over 25% of our regulatory reserve. That, in effect, stifles us in that area. Mr. Ed Farrell said that the Irish League of Credit Unions proposal is essentially that credit unions would participate in a State-backed vehicle that would enable individual credit unions to act as an efficient distribution network to originate SME loan applications.

Reference was made to the issue of rates as well. I can only talk about my own independent entity as a credit union. We have an incremental rate span. The rate we charge depends on the subject or what the loan is for. On other occasions we take into consideration the socioeconomic position of the person who is applying for the loan. As an urban credit union with so much in common with the rural situation, we are of the people and we give where we possibly can.