Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My amendments are similar to the others in the group. The Minister has indicated that there are three aspects to this matter, namely, the sharing of back office services, shared branching or front office services and credit unions being in a position to use their assets to invest in socially beneficial projects. I do not want to question anyone's bona fides in this regard, but will the Minister explain why the credit unions believe there is an impediment to having shared back office services? Is it simply the case that they do not understand that there is no such impediment? Has the Minister discussed the matter with the credit unions in the interests of everyone moving forward together and reaching an understanding that there is nothing to prevent the sharing of such services in the way they would like?

I am slightly more concerned about the Minister's response on the issue of front-office services. Obviously I will go back and talk to the credit unions but I would be interested to hear what further comment the Minister would make on this. I would hate to think that we were blocking the credit unions from expanding the number of services they can make available because, for example, it might not be to the liking of the for-profit banking sector.