Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Noonan. Newbridge Credit Union has been to the fore during the course of the summer and I expect the difficulties we have been having in Newbridge are difficulties that we may well experience in other parts of the country in the period ahead. I will say to the Minister first and foremost that he should see Newbridge as a template of what should not be allowed to happen if there are difficulties in other credit unions.

In April of last year a special manager was appointed. It has to be said there was a dearth of communication from that special manager until, in the middle of this summer, a local action group was formed, which raised the ante very considerably. The north Kildare Oireachtas Members have all worked closely together on this matter to try to find a resolution. However, we learned from the special manager and, in the last week, from the regulator in the Central Bank that they see only two solutions to the problems at Newbridge Credit Union, namely, liquidation of the union or its forced amalgamation with some other entity. I want to say to the Minister without equivocation that I am convinced the only answer to Newbridge's problem rests in a community-based solution and, therefore, that the solution should be in Newbridge itself and should not include the forced amalgamation of Newbridge Credit Union with any other credit union.

In the course of the last 20 months, the decent, honourable people who, as volunteers, have been directors of Newbridge Credit Union have been subjected to innuendo and rumour, which I am sure the Minister and anybody else in public office would not stand over. However, because of the veil of silence that has been drawn by the Central Bank and the courts over this matter, they have stood accused of mismanagement of the funds available to Newbridge Credit Union, which are substantial - €163 million in savings.

I am firmly convinced that the Minister is the only person who, at this point, can find a resolution to this problem. I welcome the fact that he is meeting the action group tomorrow. I call on him to intervene in this crisis to ensure we can find a community-based solution, so the decent people whose names have been damaged can be exonerated as soon as possible.

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