Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I support amendment No. 10, which has been proposed by Deputy Burton on behalf of the Labour Party. It is very worthwhile. In the short time available to me, I would like to refer specifically to amendment No. 53. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, for allowing some additional amendments to be discussed as part of this group. The amendments before the House go to the heart of the issue with the credit union movement. The Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs and the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service have had lengthy debates with the various bodies in the credit union sector. I understand the credit union movement, having met the Minister on a number of occasions, has reached a general consensus on the amendment to be made to section 35 of the Credit Union Act 1997. However, we are going into the unknown with the introduction of the new section 35A, which will give the regulator wide-ranging powers with regard to credit unions, in effect.

A number of factors need to be emphasised in this regard. We all want sound and strong regulation of the credit union movement. That is also the aim of the movement itself. We want to protect the interests of deposit holders. We need to ensure we do not throw out the baby with the bath water, however. The taxpayer has bailed out the large banks. The €22 billion that has been put into Anglo Irish Bank has gone down the toilet. Money has been also put into the other banks. I do not know of a red cent that has been put into the credit union movement. There is a concern that the credit unions' deposit base will be ravaged by the banks. The credit union movement is based on lending the money the credit unions have on deposit. They do not go to the wholesale markets to borrow the money they lend. The banks that have taken such risks have wasted the hard-earned money of taxpayers.

The community-based credit union movement works by taking deposits as part of a saving culture, lending that money back into the community and making interest from the money it lends in order to pay a dividend. If credit unions cannot pay a dividend, they will not attract deposits. In such circumstances, the deposits will go instead to the banks, which are keen to raid the credit unions in any event, and the credit union movement will not be able to provide vital services to small people throughout this country. As a chartered accountant who worked as a sole practitioner for many years, I assure the House that many of my clients would have gone out of business in the 1990s if it had not been for the credit union movement. They could not get overdraft facilities from the banks. On Monday mornings, they used to go to their local credit union to get a bank draft before continuing to their local bank to lodge the draft and thereby stay in business. We owe the credit union movement something, but we owe the banks nothing.

Last night, I asked the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, whether the Minister for Finance met the credit union movement before amendment No. 53 was tabled on Report Stage. I have not yet received an answer. I want to hear an answer. The credit union movement has worked with the Minister. We have had various meetings with the Minister. I have drawn up an amendment on behalf of the Fine Gael Party, but it does not appear to be on the list of Report Stage amendments. I will ensure it is tabled in the Seanad. The amendment will provide that the new section proposed in amendment No. 53, which combines sections 35 and 35A, "shall not come into effect" until an order for its commencement is laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and an assessment of its impact on the credit union movement is undertaken and published.

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