Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to come back in. My first question relates to the credit unions. It has always frustrated me that there are two significant financial dots that have never been joined in this country and that concerns the money the credit unions have that they want to put into funds to be invested in the housing market. It is estimated that about €12 billion or €13 billion of funds are with the credit unions at the moment, and they seek to make that funding available to approved housing bodies so those approved housing bodies have the ability to build houses. God knows, we have a real need of houses in this country at the moment.

I met with the regulator of the credit unions a number of years ago and I got a very strong sense that the regulator felt that the capacity to manage that was not in the credit unions. My instinct was that if the capacity was not there, then the Government should help to buttress or build that capacity to facilitate this. I know that a number of funds have been created in recent months, small funds which can be used with the approved housing bodies.

I do not see the Government, or at least the State, providing the requisite energy concerning these funds. Equally, if the law was changed, the amount of money that could be made available to the AHBs would increase greatly. The credit unions have different rules and regulations around regulatory reserves, lending limits, etc. There is a great need in the State for housing but a great absence of the required funding. In that context, and given the funds the credit union sector has and its wish to use those funds to finance housing, would it not be logical for us to change the law and build capacity to allow those funds to be increased?