Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am a very strong supporter of the credit union movement. It is the friendliness, approachability and quality of personal service that is available from credit unions that is extremely attractive to people who put their savings into credit unions and using their services, not just in rural areas but also in inner-city communities and new communities around cities. My Department has arrangements with credit unions in a number of instances, particularly through the Money Advice & Budgeting Service and the Citizens Information Board, by means of which we help people who may not have a particular credit record to work to become a customer of their local credit union and, ultimately, build up credit capacity, which can be very useful to them. All of the parties in this House have no difficulty in agreeing with that.

In respect of the proposal of the credit unions that they have access to a mechanism for using the funds of their members to invest directly with Government, I assure the Deputy that if the credit union movement - or any of the organisations involved with it - comes forward with a proposal, it will be very seriously examined by Government.

The Deputy referred to the banks. He is correct in stating that banks have moved away from having direct physical branch presences in inner cities, areas with local authority housing and rural areas because of the crash and the change in the way they work. I would be the first to acknowledge that the credit unions provide a vital personalised service relating to financial matters. It is an absolute priority for the Government that this should continue to be facilitated. If the credit unions have proposals they would like to see developed, particularly in respect of the issues raised by the Deputy - such as the size of deposits and the purpose for which credit union funds might be lent to Government - we would be very happy to receive them.

I am glad to say that the difficulties which beset a relatively small number of credit unions in the context of the overall banking crisis are well on their way to being resolved. We are at a point where we have a credit union movement which, even in international terms, is very well regulated so people who want to use it can be very confident that their savings will be very carefully guarded. If there are proposals for expansion, I can say on behalf of the Government that we will be very happy to hear about them from the credit union movement.

See this speech in context