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

I support the objective of protecting savings but the issue of death benefit or insurance is a different matter. The Minister of State revealed that responsibility for this has been passed to Permanent TSB but agents of the State entered into an agreement with that bank before the credit union had been subsumed. The issue of death benefit should have been considered as part of this agreement. A considerable number of people are suffering because a benefit they expected to receive after being members of the credit union for several decades will now be denied to them. That is wrong and the Department of Finance should rectify the matter immediately. An information note circulated to people in advance of the credit union being subsumed stated that the legal agreements underpinning existing loan and other arrangements would not be altered by the transfer because Permanent TSB was simply going to assume the same rights and responsibilities formerly belonging to the credit union. That was people's understanding until December 2014, when the process was at an advanced stage. It is not too late to revisit this issue and do the honourable thing on behalf of the longstanding members of the credit union who expected to be able to rely on this death benefit.

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