Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

The decision to intervene in Newbridge and to put in a special manager was a decision under law by the Central Bank. It was not my decision. Under the same legislation, the Central Bank had to consult me before it moved in. It had that consultation and deemed it necessary to intervene and then it did so. The function of the manager is to run the credit union in Newbridge on an ongoing basis and to come back with a report which will, effectively, be a business plan for the future running of the Newbridge Credit Union. While there was some nervousness over the first 24 or 48 hour period, it settled down and it is trading away. The manager went in on a Friday afternoon, the credit union opened on the Saturday morning and normal business was conducted and continues to go forward.

I draw the Deputy's attention to the interim report of the Commission on Credit Unions. It sets out data on credit unions over the years 2006-11. It states that 56 credit unions are under-capitalised with 27 of those considered to be significantly under-capitalised. That is out of a total of approximately 430 to 450 credit unions. We would want to get these things in proportion. We are really talking about 27 credit unions, some big but of a lot them small, which are seriously under-capitalised. Another 29 are under-capitalised. That is the quantum. That is the area of difficulty. I can tell the Deputy again that the Central Bank and the Government stand ready to support the credit union movement.

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