Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At a time when so many families are experiencing hardship of one form or another and others are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table, the credit union is very often what keeps them afloat. One of the great civil society institutions this State has produced, credit unions offer people access to credit they may not be able to get elsewhere. Set up in the 1950s by the great Cork woman Ms Nora Herlihy, their aim was to provide ordinary people with bank-like facilities with which they could save and receive loans. The founders of the movement, Ms Nora Herlihy, Mr. Sean Forde and Mr. Seamus MacEoin, were very much products of their time. Shaped by the ideals of 1916 and driven by a desire to create a better society, they worked tirelessly to establish a national movement that would give ordinary people a degree, no matter how small, of financial security and access to credit.

What makes the credit union movement unique and special is that at its core it was essentially about empowering, for the very first time, ordinary Irish men and women. The founders had a vision of the type of institution they wanted to create and of its purpose. It would be based on the notion of volunteerism, and it would be people-centred and built around communities. It is worth remembering just how radical these ideas were in the Ireland of the 1950s and 1960s. This was a time of high unemployment and massive emigration, with limited opportunities for ordinary working people. Poverty was rampant and most people simply made do with what they had. Household goods were bought only when absolutely necessary, and things such as travel and new clothing were deemed luxuries to be purchased for special occasions such as weddings or communions or in the event of a death. As ordinary working people did not use banks, hire purchase was the order of the day; alternatively, people put deposits on clothes and other items.

Set within the societal context of the 1950s and 1960s, the birth of the credit union movement was truly revolutionary. The credit union - or the poor people's bank, as it was often referred to at the time - changed the lives of working-class men and women forever. For the first time, people in towns and cities across Ireland had access to a cheap and secure form of credit that would allow them to move beyond an existence that was based on subsistence.

The three aspects of the core ethos on which the credit union movement was founded - namely volunteerism, service and community - are also the key factors that helped it to flourish and grow. Today, credit unions are to be found in every community in Ireland. They are staffed and managed by committed workers who devote much of their own time to the service of their communities. We should be proud that such a movement originated in Ireland, that it was founded by people who were committed to notions of social justice, equality and fairness, and that it has since been exported to developed and developing countries across the globe.

Given its history and evolution and the key role it has played in Irish society and in bettering the lives of so many people, it is right that we approach any proposed changes to credit unions with caution and care. Moreover, when one considers the current crisis of confidence in our financial institutions and the justified public anger at institutions and executives that have abused the people's trust, it is important to remind ourselves of the successes that endured even through the most reckless days of the boom.

Credit unions are far from perfect and the Ireland in which they currently operate is dramatically different from that of the 1950s and, more importantly, from the Ireland of the Celtic tiger. The credit union movement openly acknowledges that the regulatory context in which it operates is in need of reform. In fact, the movement has been the leading advocate of this reform, which is the context in which this Bill must be set.

In the main, Sinn Féin supports the Bill. Our position is clear: we are in favour of effective and appropriate regulation for the credit union sector. We want credit unions, their members and the communities of which they are a part to have the highest levels of protection, probity and governance. However, we are also of the view that what is best and distinctive about the credit union movement - namely, its volunteer ethos and the fact it is rooted physically and ideologically in the community - should be safeguarded, valued and preserved.

Some of the issues that are a cause of concern for credit unions are to do with the proposed governance changes, particularly the proposed term limits for directors and the prohibitions on board membership. Sinn Féin agrees with the credit union movement that certain aspects of these sections of the Bill are unnecessary and that they could in effect undermine the volunteer spirit on which credit unions are based. Indeed, small urban and rural credit unions could well end up in a situation in which they are unable to operate if they cannot meet the very strict exclusions that are set down in the Bill. I know from first-hand experience that this is a real and genuine concern for people. For example, in my own constituency of Cork East, volunteers are afraid that people who either are involved or who would like to be involved in their local credit unions might be excluded from doing so on the basis that they are deemed unfit. In small towns and tight-knit urban communities, this would have a negative impact on community life and act as a deterrent against volunteering.

The Irish credit union movement has made sensible arguments in support of the amendment of the relevant sections of the Bill, to which I hope the Government will respond positively. There is a duty on us as legislators to ensure we do everything within our power to preserve what is a unique and valuable institution for future generations of ordinary working people.

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