Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I will not go over old ground but it is important to put on the record that this amendment makes sense. As a rural Deputy and as a Member of the Cabinet, the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, has an obligation to take this issue seriously at a time when there is international as well as national debate about how the banking sector should go forward. Obviously, the unregulated international banking sector is not the way forward and as we cannot go back to the socialist-type models we must look at something in between. We have an in-between, a fundamentally democratic institution in the shape of the credit union, made up of local people in their local parishes, holding regular annual general meetings - factors fundamental to creating a mix between capitalism and socialism.

The Minister of State may smile. There are experts in studios, whether at the BBC, CNN, UTV or RTE, sitting around tables saying we need a mix between socialism and capitalism. The mix is there, right in front of the Minister of State's nose - the credit union model. I cite my local parish which has had a turnover of €30 million since 1992, with 3,000 members. This is staring at us straight in the face. I ask the Minister to accept these amendments because it makes sense to do so. I ask him not to make an umbrella regulation for all these individual, independent and different local institutions. A credit union institution in one part of County Donegal is different from one in another part of the county, never mind from others in County Cork or in the Minister of State's constituency of County Clare. They are unique and fundamentally democratic and they are the solution for forward looking banking sector reform.

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