Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before the Minister of State gives the rest of the reply, I will point out that quite a number of credit unions have many people who want to borrow money from them, which, thankfully, may be a sign of confidence coming back into the economy. However, many of these credit unions find that, due to the restrictions placed on them, they are unable to lend the money.

I understand from the reply that these regulatory effects are rechecked on a continuous basis, but it needs to happen an awful lot more quickly. We cannot throw the credit unions in with the main lending banks, as was done in the past. These are the people who keep our small rural towns and villages going. As the Minister of State who represents small business will very clearly understand, we have an issue with getting money out to some of our SMEs, and these credit unions have an ability to provide loans to give people a start, whether they have work to do, want to make an investment in a house project or are looking to buy a car. I am concerned when I continually hear from credit union members that these restrictions are not allowing them to do the job they were set up to do.

Again, we must remember that the credit unions were set up and run by the community for the community. They cannot be treated as we would treat the regular lending banks. It is very important that the Central Bank gets the message that, in order to drive this economy, we must take away the regulations and restrictions on these credit unions. I am not suggesting that we take away all the structures completely, because we must have very good lending rules and regulations. However, who better to set out those concerns and to make sure this happens than the credit unions themselves? It is important that we recognise the work they have done before and the great work they can do to drive on this economy. I would like the Minister of State to bring back to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, and to the Central Bank the message that we have to give the credit unions a level playing field to allow them to continue the great work they have done.

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