Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Central Bank is the regulator, not the Department of Finance. The bank regulates principally to protect the interests of customers and to protect the savings of credit union members. It does not want credit unions to get into financial difficulty. There is a myth that all the banks were bad and all the credit unions were good, but this is not true. There have been credit unions that got into difficulty. The example of Newbridge Credit Union will be fresh in people's minds. Despite our having been told on several occasions how well it was trading and how prudent its lending policies were, it cost a great deal of taxpayers' money to get it out of difficulty. Following examination of the credit union, that did not appear to be the case. There are a small number of credit unions - thankfully, it is a small number - that are in difficulty. ReBo is communicating with the credit unions concerned. While there will, hopefully, be some amalgamations, these are not being driven by considerations other than the solvency and effectiveness of the credit unions. It is proposed to restructure the credit unions so that they can continue to play a vital role in our communities.

See this speech in context