Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill.

I am sure the Minister is well aware of my overall concerns and that Sinn Féin Party members will not be supporting the legislation, as our concern is with the State injecting its own money into this fund. As nobody knows what the future holds, this could be another blank cheque for the restructuring of the banking sector. We have tried to deal with this fundamental principle at earlier stages. While my party will not be voting for this Bill that does not stop us from engaging constructively with it. I note that we are the only party that has submitted Committee and Report Stage amendments.

The Minister has always engaged with us in dealing with the Billl. While we have not always been happy with the outcome, we acknowledge the thorough engagement. I appreciate that the concerns I raised in my amendments on Committee Stage have been taken on board and that after genuine consultation with the credit union sector, the Minister tabled amendments on Report Stage, which is a very satisfactory outcome. For that reason, I will withdraw my amendments.

I think the Minister's statement in the Seanad on the recapitalisation of the credit union at a cost of between €500 million and €1 billion has caused alarm. As the figures were not put in context, there was no justification for it. This has unsettled credit union members and created negative consumer confidence. It appears the Minister made his assessment on the information given by the Central Bank, which is based on the unpublished and by all account poorly conducted research on the credit union movement. It appears from media reports that selected journalists are being briefed on that research, which I think paints a confusing picture for many people. I understand that only a very small number of credit unions will need financial assistance and will need to be dealt with immediately. The broader issue of restructuring and regulating credit unions must be left to the Commission on Credit Unions and the Oireachtas, without unnecessary interference from the regulator. The financial position of a very limited number of small credit unions must not be used by the regulator to impose an agenda on the credit union movement that is not in keeping with its community bond and not for profit ethos.

I express my dissatisfaction with the way in which the regulator is imposing lending restrictions on credit unions without any clear criteria or rationale in a manner that is completely and utterly inconsistent and in the majority of cases, clearly out of synch with the robust financial position of the credit unions concerned. We know this is driving people who relied on credit union loans for small events to go to moneylenders who are charging an annual percentage rate of more than 180%.

The Minister's performance has been in two halves. First we had his very positive engagement on credit unions, but his out of the blue comments in the Seanad, based on biased information that is out of date, caused panic in the credit union sector. Since he made those comments I have heard Government spokespersons refer to the tiny number of credit unions that need support and restructuring. The Minister has an opportunity to calm the nerves; we have had a crisis of confidence in the banking sector and we do not need the same in the credit union sector. We know that a tiny number of cases in the credit union sector need assistance, but the figure of up to €1 billion being required to deal with it, is disputed. It seems it will not be in that region.

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