Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The focus of the Government, and rightly so, has been on the credit institutions that almost brought the country to the verge of ruin. This is perfectly understandable but it is important to note that the credit unions did not bring the country to the verge of ruin. It did not emerge that there was a €1 billion black hole in the credit union movement, as the consultants who were brought in at the time estimated.

Credit unions are generally very prudently and cautiously managed. We should not apply to the credit union movement the same philosophy of regulation that applies in the Central Bank. Credit unions are not banks or credit institutions in the normal understanding of those terms. In saying this, I am not reflecting in any way on the current regulator who is, I am sure, a very professional person. However, the dereliction of conduct that we saw inside the banks in recent years was not prevalent in the credit unions.

I acknowledge that we had Newbridge, which was regrettable, but the scale of dereliction was very minor indeed.

In Ireland, we have a tendency to overreact and go from one extreme to the other. As a result of the hardship inflicted on people by the dereliction in the banks, we go from 0o to 180o. There does not appear to be an understanding of the ethos of the credit unions in the Central Bank or in its model of regulation. I remember when I brought in the Credit Union Act when I was Minister of State with responsibility for commerce in the 1990s. The first delegation we received was from Latvia, which was one of the new accession states, to look at what the credit union movement was doing for Ireland and whether it could be replicated in their country. There is no doubt that it is a precious institution in a society which spins on the basis of being able to obtain credit, which is something most people who go to work for a wage or salary have no difficulty doing whether for a car or a television. There are many people in local communities for whom credit unions are the lifeblood. There are possibilities in terms of the synergies credit unions might create with the post office network nationally in particular in a context where the banks are pulling back and do not want to engage with people.

It is not possible in the short time I have to go into the kind of detail I would like, but I note the following to the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, who it seems to me is handling this matter. I speak for all sides of the House when I say that he has earned the respect of colleagues across the Chamber since he took office. It is an admiration that has been well earned. I ask him to reflect before he signs off on the points mentioned by Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor. This is a democratic, grassroots movement and I ask the Minister of State to engage with its members again to work out a mediated settlement before he signs the order.

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