Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I support the group of amendments, particularly amendment No. 53, in the name of Deputy Kieran O'Donnell and amendment No. 10, in the name of Deputy Joan Burton.

Despite the consultation that has, supposedly, taken place, the Minister and the Government seem to have ignored the opinions and concerns of credit unions and their members throughout the country. Does the Minister for Defence fully endorse, in his heart, the recommendations made in the Bill?

I come from a rural county in the west where the credit union network is the most extensive of all and where the banks now have very little interest in helping small business and ordinary people who work hard. This effort to strangle the credit unions and to deny them the freedom they have had is most unfortunate. An initiative was recently created by the credit unions and advertised in the public press. They proposed, in the absence of the banks, to help small businesses and give them access to funding. The funding was restricted yet it was not made available by the banks. The banks, through the regulator and the registrar of the credit union movement, told credit unions, individually, they could not embark on that type of lending because the banks claimed they were making credit available. They are not. Instead, they make proposals and give approvals but these approvals fall far short of the requirements of small businesses.

The Minister of State is propping up the banks and giving them greater leverage to kill off credit unions. Essentially, the Minister of State is driving people who urgently need small loans into the hands of moneylenders. That is the reality. Do we want that situation to develop once again? We thought we had eradicated it. Through the credit union network in the country many people have structured their financial requirements in times of need but now there is a return to a situation where moneylenders will be knocking on doors once more. I did not believe the Minister of State would take up the initiative to lead us in that direction.

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