Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this very important issue of the floor of the Dáil. Just after noon on Friday, the liquidators were appointed to Charleville credit union. That was a huge shock to the people of Charleville and its hinterland. We should consider a number of issues in terms of how the liquidator was appointed. The timing is one such issue. The notification came in the early afternoon on Friday when many people would have their wages paid into their accounts on Thursday night and pensioners would have had their pensions paid in on Friday. An entire cohort of people has not been able to access their weekly wages or other funds on the Friday. The powers that be, in this case the Central Bank, should examine the situation and how the liquidation process was executed.

Charleville credit union had been working extremely hard in recent times to try to get out of a very difficult situation. The board of the now former credit union was working extremely hard with the Central Bank. The Central Bank said Charleville credit union was not insolvent. The situation is very difficult for people in Charleville to swallow given that the credit union was founded many years ago and provided an extensive service to people within the community. Many business people told me over the weekend how their funds in the credit union have been frozen. Reference has been made to guaranteed funds but many businesses had to resort to their own resources to keep them going and to provide cash to pay their employees last Friday afternoon. People were told it would take 21 working days before any moneys would be paid out which means people would be starved of access to money for the next three weeks to a month. That is simply not acceptable.

We could have a lengthy debate on how we came to the pass that was reached last Friday afternoon and how Charleville credit union was prevented from expanding or trading itself out of the difficulties in which it found itself. The board and staff of the credit union made significant sacrifices to try to put it in a good place. The question is where we go from here. We have no credit union services within the town and hinterland of Charleville. The credit union had 12,000 members. Today is 17 October. What plan is in place? Are the liquidators now going to wait for 21 days before giving money back to people? That would starve the community of resources in the shape of their own funds. As Councillor Ian Doyle said this morning on the radio many small and medium businesses and small traders will be adversely affected and the town of Charleville will be devastated. Will the Minister of State outline the plans of the Department and the Central Bank to make sure there is a functioning credit union in Charleville in the short term? I am not talking about the long-term future.

I am a major supporter of the credit union movement and the work it has done in every community, urban and rural, especially in Charleville. In the run up to the very busy Christmas period if we leave a void in terms of the credit union in Charleville we will force people to resort to moneylenders and all of the negativity that surrounds them. What are the plans of the Department and the Central Bank to deal with the situation?

There is a meeting in Charleville this evening to allow local people to air their concerns. People are right to be worried. If the Minister of State will pardon the pun, we need to see the colour of his money at this stage. We want to see what is envisaged for Charleville and its environs.

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