Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response.

I still come back to this point. I appreciate and am glad that a degree of flexibility exists but why have them hamstrung unnecessarily with bureaucracy? One should remember that credit unions are organisations which, while having professional staff, also have considerable voluntary involvement and they should not be hamstrung any more than necessary. I am asking that consultation paper 88, as it stands, not be signed off, even though I accept that there is some flexibility. I would prefer that there be more dialogue with the credit union movement. The latter did not cause the banking crisis and when it had to bailed out, the cost was approximately €25 million. That is peanuts compared to the amount that had to be spent in bailing out the banks.

From what I am told, when Mr. Matthew Elderfield came to Ireland and took up the position of regulator, he did not even know what a credit union was. He knew what other banks were all right but he did not know what a credit union was. Credit unions have a long tradition of acting responsibly and, for that reason, we should try to work in unison with them and to their advantage to the greatest extent possible.

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