Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister's comments again today that the problem relates to a small number of credit unions. There was quite a bit of concern about, and criticism of, the Minister's handling of the intervention by the registrar of credit unions to appoint a special manager to Newbridge Credit Union. Thankfully, maybe because of the day that was in it, other news stories and the media acting responsibly on this issue, there was not widescale fear in regard to credit unions when this hit the news headlines. What was lacking was reinforcement of what the Minister echoed today that this was an exceptional matter and that the overwhelming majority of credit unions are on a sound financial footing.

Will the Minister reassure us and, indeed, the credit union movement that any future interventions by the registrar will be part of a wider reconstruction plan of the credit union movement?

See this speech in context