Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Public Accounts Committee

Credit Union Fund Accounts 2013; Credit Resolution Institution Fund Accounts 2013; and Credit Union Restructuring Board Accounts 2013

11:10 am

Mr. Bobby McVeigh:

This is not in our purview, but I might speak from my experience to tie this in with the Deputy's question on credit unions becoming ever bigger and more like banks. I can reassure the committee that this has not happened in the jurisdictions in which I have worked, particularly in Canada. On the Deputy's question on social housing, some of the large credit unions in Canada, particularly in Vancouver, Toronto and Manitoba, have specialised in putting a lot of their surplus money into social housing and community endeavours and tying that back into the community from a social point of view. They have done very well by it, while everyone else has ignored it. In the future, it has great potential.