Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I share the views expressed by other speakers on the proud history of the credit union movement in this country. Many working families could not have stepped inside any of the conventional banks as they did not have sufficient money to save and because they were on low incomes they could not borrow from conventional banks. Credit unions are not banks in the understood sense. Part of my reservation, which I share with others, is that the legislation wrongly attempts to force 70 years of legislation pertaining to banks onto a voluntary movement. Any rational person would consider that to be wrong. I disagree with it.

Credit unions have a different history and a very different ethos, the principal issue being the fact that they are voluntary. That is a good thing. Given what we have experienced during the booming Celtic tiger years of greed, we should encourage people to volunteer, not the opposite. As legislators we should be careful in what we do. It is wrong to try to convert credit unions into another banking system. We should not allow it to happen. I support the points that have been made. I will not repeat them. I refer, for example, to the arguments made by the credit union movement on the sharing of services. The banks are opposed to that. One does not have to be a genius to work out the reason. I support the credit unions. If one is a member of a credit union in Tallaght, one should be allowed to withdraw money in Cork, for example. That is not possible at present.

As legislators, we should not obstruct the right of credit union members to volunteer. We should not encroach on people’s rights to be volunteers in the credit union movement. If the Bill is enacted we would restrict people’s right to volunteer whether as directors or others. We should not do that because it is wrong. It goes against the original thrust of the credit union movement. Deputy Nolan spoke about the voluntary nature of the movement and people giving without getting anything in return. That is a good thing which we should promote.

I hope those points are taken on board on Committee Stage. I am a person who both saved with and borrowed from a credit union. I am proud of that and of the work they have done. It is ironic to consider that last week we discussed the fact that we could not do anything about the super pensions of bankers and former Ministers and yet if the Bill we are discussing is enacted we will restrict the right of people who want to volunteer in the credit union movement. We should not find ourselves in that situation. We should be on the side of people who want to volunteer with an important organisation such as the credit union movement. We should bear that in mind. Credit unions are banks for working families. We should be on their side and not place restrictions on them.

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