Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We discussed this issue on Committee Stage and while I do not want to elongate the debate unnecessarily, I feel particularly strongly about this point because it relates to the bigger macroeconomic picture. We are in dire need of a stimulus and investment. The credit union movement wishes to ensure there is no impediment to its members investing money in a way that could be beneficial to the economy and society in terms of job creation and the development of socially useful projects. We should welcome this. The Minister suggested on Committee Stage that there was no impediment to such investment by credit unions which are putting their money in the bank but would rather put it somewhere else. The Minister also said he had to safeguard the deposits of the members of credit unions and was concerned about that aspect in the context of this proposal. However, as I understand it, the credit union movement is stating any scheme in which credit unions would invest would be State-guaranteed. The idea is that they would lend money to the State for a guaranteed, modest return, thus making money available for programmes to create jobs and benefit the economy, local communities and so forth. The State would guarantee the repayment of the money, at a modest rate of interest. That seems to be a no-brainer. It is a very positive suggestion, the acceptance of which would be good for the credit union movement and the economy as a whole. The credit union movement would like the Bill to state explicitly that there will be no impediment to member unions doing this. It is obvious that it would be better if credit unions put money into such projects rather than deposit it in banks. I, therefore, ask the Minister to outline how he proposes to deal with this issue in a way which will satisfy the credit union movement and benefit the economy.

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