Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from the contributions of my colleagues, as the Minister noted in his introduction, all Members recognise the importance of the role of the credit union movement in respect of its volunteerism, its not-for-profit aspect and so on. I must declare my interest because I am a member of a credit union and have attended its annual general meetings in most years. Even in comparison with the annual general meetings of my union, such meetings are very robust. Everything is checked and questioned and such annual general meetings are open, democratic events that play a crucial role within credit unions nationwide, as each year they go to their members with their accounts, proposals, the dividend and so forth.

The role played by credit unions has been crucial. I refer to the small loans that play a crucial role in the community, such as €500 to pay for a communion day, €1,000 for a holiday, €1,500 to get some work done on the house and so on. Moreover, practically everyone is involved in the credit unions, which form a three million member movement. In my constituency of Dublin South-Central, on the basis of this legislation and the movement's concerns, a meeting recently was called in Sundrive Credit Union, at which ten credit unions, representing 65,000 people, were represented. It is a huge body of people who absolutely need that contact with credit unions and that access to money with which the movement facilitates them. I refer to the recognition by the loan boards of the credit unions of those people they know in the community and with whom they deal, year in and year out. They know that Anne, who borrows €1,000 every Christmas, will pay it back over time with a stash of money she has and who will then return the following year to borrow the same amount. It will now be questionable whether such people will be able to access that money because of the restrictions that are being introduced to regulate loans to people.

The concerns expressed by the Irish League of Credit Unions have been generally raised. The league's concerns are viable and should be taken seriously because they would not have been raised unless the league considered them in that light and it was a positive contributor to the commission. I believe it constituted one of the main groups to urge that this commission be set up, and throughout the nine month period, the league engaged constructively with the Government, the Department of Finance and other groups within that.

As for the nature of the credit union, as Deputy Daly has set out clearly, although some matters were agreed, the credit union representatives then went back to their membership and at the annual general meeting, the 1,500 members present disagreed with aspects of it. Consequently, that disagreement must be reflected in the Dáil and the concerns communicated to the Minister. Points have been made in respect of the Central Bank Acts from 1942 to 2011, and the credit unions are also concerned that they will be covered by future statutory instruments, the consequences of which are unknown. This is an important issue and, consequently, my group will table amendments to support the Irish League of Credit Unions to the effect that the six or so instruments specifically relating to them should be included. If, in the future, regulations or statutory instruments must be brought in with regard to aspects of the credit union movement, that can be done at a later stage. It would be an important and positive response on the part of the Minister to consider and accept such a proposal and to confer again about it with the Irish League of Credit Unions.

As for the Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal, IFSAT, I acknowledge it has been mentioned that credit unions would have the right to go before the High Court in the case of an emergency if they needed to deal with something urgently. However, a facility allowing this to happen also should be recognised and included in the Bill in order that they are not merely under the remit of the IFSAT. Other areas that were not covered by my colleague due to time constraints include those proposals that were agreed by the commission but with which many individual credit union members have issues, such as the imposition of the term limits. People within the credit union movement have developed vast experience over the years and I have seen this in my own credit union. People have participated in the credit union throughout their lives, having started as 20 or 25 year olds who went to the annual general meeting and learned how credit unions work.

In retirement they would be actively involved, and great wisdom and experience comes from these people, making the credit unions and the league what it is. There should not be any imposition in that regard. No harm has come to our credit union to date and I cannot see it doing any harm in future. That is reflected in many of the credit unions across the country. There is much experience and by pushing out to the voluntary sector, there will be a significant impact on the league's ethos and the role of the credit union in communities.

There are restrictions regarding who can be on the boards, which are also questionable. Many people, including employees, volunteers and family members, can play a crucial role, and there is accountability in the credit unions. Every year they are checked rigorously by the membership, and this has played an important role in the past number of years and lifetime of credit unions. We will be putting down amendments to reflect the league's concerns in that regard.

The Irish League of Credit Unions and everybody else agrees that there should be regulation but there are areas that must be tweaked to ensure the ethos of volunteerism in credit unions can be retained.

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