Mr. Kevin Johnson:

As Mr. Farrell and Mr. Molan have explained, a significant amount of work is under way and we are working collaboratively on it. It is worth noting that many credit unions are doing this and have been doing it for many years. Although only half of credit unions are in the scheme, we are getting lessons from those which have been doing this type of work for many years. Indeed, credit unions were founded to address the bigger problem whereby people could not get access to credit. Dealing with these issues is a core competency of credit unions.

Housing continues to be a very high priority for credit unions. As members are aware, last February the Central Bank amended the investment regulations to allow credit unions to invest in a fund which would lend to tier 3 approved housing bodies. Unfortunately, a month later the status of those bodies changed and all of their sources of funding, irrespective of from where they come, are regarded as on balance sheet for the State. However, our original approach was that credit unions could lend to the likes of co-ops and other providers of housing as well as tier 3 approved housing bodies. It may be necessary to revisit that issue to find ways whereby credit unions can collectively lend for those purposes because the bigger issue here is the ongoing crisis of people being unable to gain access to a home. As we have previously stated at the committee, it is appalling that our essential workers cannot access housing through ownership or rental. Housing is very much a priority for us and we may need to revisit the Credit Union Act to allow credit unions to individually and collectively lend for that purpose.