Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Amendments in my name in this section include amendments Nos. 13 and 15. Amendment No. 13 is also in the name of Deputy Michael McGrath and it deals with State-guaranteed projects. This was one of the issues the Irish League of Credit Unions presented to the committee when a deputation appeared at the pre-legislative scrutiny stage. It makes absolute sense. We are aware the Irish League of Credit Unions and credit unions throughout the State invest in projects and, like banks and financial institutions, they must invest in projects. They want to invest in State-guaranteed projects which would benefit the local community.

The ethos of credit unions is one of sharing profits with their members and developing local communities. Why can we not have an extension of that ethos to allow credit unions to invest in State guaranteed projects?

Last night I re-read a reply to a parliamentary question I asked about the public private partnership in eight schools, one of which is Coláiste Ailigh in Letterkenny. This is being bankrolled by Bank of Ireland. The bank, in which the State is a minority shareholder, will get a benefit from that. Why should a credit union not be allowed to invest in a State guaranteed project that would be of benefit to the local community?

Amendment No. 15 is similar to amendments submitted by other Deputies. The Bill needs to do more than deal with the regulation of credit union, although it is important that we have proper and robust regulation of them. It also needs to deal with the future development of the sector and with the movement's role in five, ten, 15 or 20 years time. Credit unions need to be able to share services at the member level. The report of the Commission on Credit Unions noted that international experience shows there is scope for improved collaboration and efficiency through shared services arrangements. The commission recommended that these should be facilitated in legislation for Irish credit unions.

This amendment, while not ruling out other shared services, lists a number of services in which credit unions should be able to participate. They include electronic transfer, automatic teller machines, debit card services and electronic fund services.

It is important that there be a clear pathway for the future development of the sector. When departmental officials briefed the committee on this issue they stated that nothing in the legislation prevented the provision of shared services. When we teased out the matter, however, it became clear that the type of shared services envisaged were back-end services such as administration and human resources. There is a clear distinction between back-end services and services at member level, such as electronic funds transfer. I need to be able to access my funds in Gweedore Credit Union whether I am in Gweedore or in Dublin. Banks are changing the way they deal with their members. We need to ensure that credit unions can keep up with them. If the Minister supports the idea of sharing member level services why can we not explicitly reference some of those services to ensure that nothing in other legislation can prevent this taking place?

Has there been any contact with the Irish Banking Federation regarding this section? Have approaches been made regarding allowing the credit union sector to move ahead in this direction?