John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Tom Hayes and Michael Creed for sharing time. I welcome the legislation. There are a couple of issues which I have been discussing with Deputy Michael Creed and which I wish to raise with the Minister.

My first point relates to smaller credit unions. Like most other parts of the country, that from which I come, namely, south County Kilkenny, has a large number of very small credit unions which do fine and important work. People who are involved with these organisations in a voluntary capacity have raised their concerns with me. Such concerns relate to the limit being placed on the period for which directors can remain in position. I agree with the principle of what the Minister is trying to do, which was agreed to by the representatives of the credit unions on the commission. Many very small credit unions may only open for a number of hours in the evening a few days each week and will encounter grave difficulties in attracting a large turnover of new directors. In such circumstances, there should be a mechanism whereby the directors of such credit unions could be allowed to remain in position for longer than that proposed in the legislation.

The other issue raised with me involves those volunteers who work in credit unions in the evenings when they have finished working in their normal place of employment. These individuals deal with members of the public who go to their credit unions in order to lodge money or avail of the other services on offer. Many of the very small credit unions to which I refer rely to a large extent on voluntarism in order to operate. A balance can be struck in the legislation in order to ensure this voluntarism will be protected and that the people who give of their free time in order to ensure these institutions remain in operation will be accommodated.

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