Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: “notes that:— the Government has a clear policy to support the strategic growth and development of credit unions in Ireland as set out in the report of the Commission on Credit Unions and recommendations; — the safety of members' savings and the security of the credit union sector as a whole are priorities for this Government. The Government recognises the important role of credit unions as a volunteer co-operative movement in this country and also the importance of getting lending going in the economy; — the credit union movement is critical to the economic and social well-being of communities all over Ireland with almost 3 million members and nearly 400 offices nationally; — the sector, offering primarily savings and loan services, employs 4,000 people and has almost 10,000 volunteers; — credit unions have survived the crisis well with just 1% of credit unions needing State funding support since the financial crisis began; — the not-for-profit and independent nature of credit unions is vital to the success of the sector; — this Government has:— put in place a number of measures to ensure that credit unions can continue to provide vital services to their members and to ensure the stability of the sector into the future; — established the Commission on Credit Unions, which reviewed the future of the credit union movement and made recommendations in relation to the most effective regulatory structure for credit unions, taking into account their not-for-profit mandate, their volunteer ethos and community focus, while paying due regard to the need to fully protect members’ savings and financial stability; and — accepted fully the report of the Commission on Credit Unions and its recommendations;— the Commission on Credit Unions participants agreed to the recommendations and that the membership of the commission included members of the credit union representative bodies and other stakeholders; — over 60 recommendations from the report of the Commission on Credit Unions have been implemented in the Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012; — the Government established the Credit Union Restructuring Board, ReBo, which, to date, has assisted with 20 mergers involving a total of 48 credit unions; a further 121 credit unions are currently being assisted in ongoing merger projects and ReBo has met with 338 individual credit union boards since coming into operation; — the Minister for Finance will conduct a review of ReBo this year to determine whether ReBo has completed the performance of its function; — the Government:— established the Credit Union Fund (Stabilisation) Levy Regulations 2014 to support credit unions that are undercapitalised but otherwise viable; — has made available €250 million for voluntary restructuring of credit unions facilitated by ReBo. In line with recommendations of the Commission on Credit Unions, restructuring is being carried out on a voluntary, incentivised and time-bound basis; and — has made available €250 million for resolution purposes. To date, the resources of the Credit Institutions Resolution Fund have been utilised to fund the resolution of four credit unions;— in negotiating the bank recovery and resolution directive, BRRD, a decision was made to apply the directive only to credit institutions which were within the scope of the capital requirements directive, CRD. This was done in order to ensure that excessive demands were not placed on small credit institutions such as credit unions. If BRRD were to be applied to credit unions there would be a considerable cost in the form of yearly contributions. There would also be considerable additional requirements in relation to recovery and resolution planning which would take up a disproportionate amount of resources. Credit unions continue to be covered under the domestic resolution regime. The contributions associated with this are less than would be charged under BRRD; — the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 applies only to a debtor who is proved to be insolvent. Credit unions and other creditors remain entitled to all other legal means of enforcing debts due to them, including bankruptcy, which is in practice the main alternative option for creditors holding unsecured debts. The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 seeks to provide an additional avenue for creditors and an insolvent debtor to reach agreement out of court on resolving unsustainable debts. This provides an opportunity for unsecured creditors to recover more of the debt due, than would be available to them via bankruptcy or other legal avenues for enforcement, by avoiding the need for enforcement, legal and court costs; — the current Credit Union Advisory Committee, CUAC, was established in September 2014 for a period of three years to advise the Minister for Finance regarding the improvement of the management of credit unions, the protection of the interests of members and any other matters the Minister may seek the advice of the committee on; — the CUAC has met with all credit union representative bodies and other stakeholders since it was established; and — the CUAC has carried out a survey of credit unions which will provide up to date information on the sector in terms of demographics and financial characteristics.”

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