Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that this is a small area in terms of the totality of the credit unions' operations but socially it is important in terms of helping people move out of, very often, debt ridden situations, the alternative being the commercial moneylenders.

If the association wants to come back to us with a summary of some of the possibilities and recommendations, I would be very open to some recognition being given of that. I cannot see that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection would object; it might not like paying any money to anybody. In fairness to the credit unions, it never arose. A conversation had been going on for up to five years before we got the go-ahead. It then proved as successful, thanks to the credit unions that participated, and was transforming in terms of the lives of people who were able to get into the scheme successfully. I congratulate the credit unions that have taken part on doing that.