Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the succinctness of his reply. I spent a number of years working in finance. The circular suggests it is the credit union's obligation to assess the creditworthiness of someone before lending money. A person in mortgage arrears for more than 12 months is de facto not a creditworthy person. The Central Bank expects a credit union to be fully satisfied as to the creditworthiness and ability to service all debts before advancing any new credit.

By virtue of being in mortgage arrears, one is not capable of servicing all one's debts. If the circular was written in such a fashion as to give a false interpretation to the credit unions as outlined, clarification needs to be issued by the Central Bank of Ireland to the credit unions so they have it in writing. The Minister of State is right that credit unions are coming under new scrutiny, which they have not come under before, and new regulatory frameworks, which is intimidating to them as it is different, and they are trying to abide by them.

I agree with the Minister of State that this statement was not ambiguous but was straightforward. However, if it is capable of such misinterpretation, it needs to be clarified urgently. Will the Minister of State use his office to ensure that clarity is given to the credit unions so that the instance I outlined, which happened in Galway on two occasions, does not happen again?

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