Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will make a very brief statement on the position of the credit unions. In my part of the country, mainly in rural areas, credit unions have been so important in supporting families, farms, small business and communities. The banks in many of the towns in my region are closing, shutting up shop and leaving town, moving away from the people who put their ten shillings, one pound and fivers into those banks many years ago. These people endured a lot of poverty but they invested in our banks and built up much of their profits. Now, when the bad times come, the banks shut up shop and move out. In many respects, our banks do not care, but our credit unions do. Credit unions constitute a voluntary, visionary movement, with over €10 billion in savings, €12 billion in assets and 360 branches throughout the country. What a phenomenal success story. Even during the recession, when many banks closed their doors to people in very difficult situations when they may only have wanted a few euro here or a small loan there, as someone said earlier, to get them through a family situation or celebration when money was short, the credit unions' doors were always open. Despite all the major financial institutions that had all the backup and all the money and that acted recklessly and brought grief down on so many families, the credit unions survived. Yes, there may have been one or two bad stories, but through all that the credit unions survived. However, in the middle of that crisis there was a lot of talk, a lot of caint, to the effect that the credit unions were destroyed or had overstretched themselves. There was a lot of negative talk, and I think some of it was deliberately focused against the credit union movement. There is no doubt but that there are people in high positions who would much prefer if there were no credit unions.

I very much welcome the committee's report - compiled under the chairmanship of Deputy McGuinness. This all-party committee clearly states in its report how critical the credit union movement will be for this country in the future. I have no doubt but that if credit unions were allowed to enter the housing sector, in which they were prepared to invest billions, we would not have the crisis we have today. We would not have children and young parents without homes because I believe credit unions would again show exemplary leadership if they were allowed to enter the sector.

Time and again, credit unions have been the only financial avenue open to people to keep them going. As for what they want to do for small business, what do we see? We see a group of people, many of them volunteers, who want to roll up their sleeves to support and promote small businesses throughout the country. Many small businesses, despite all the new initiatives and all the help that is out there, still find it extremely difficult to get sufficient finance to keep their operations going. We all accept that lending must be done prudently in order to be sustainable. However, as for what is going on with the regulator and, to some extent, in my view, the suffocation of a movement that has done so much, we really need to ensure that the regulator does not get away with this. If we do, we will have buried one of the greatest voluntary organisations that ever existed in this country.

I give my full support to the credit union movement. I had not prepared much to say for this evening's debate but I have a lot of documentation on the issue. Since I became a Member of the Dáil, I have been very supportive of what Deputy McGuinness and the committees have been doing. I have always had an association with local credit unions so I am proud give my support to them, to Deputy McGuinness, the chairman of the committee, and to others who really want to allow credit unions to involve themselves more in making this country a better place.

Finally, I return to the point I made earlier, namely, that where the banks are shutting up shop and leaving, the credit unions are standing with their communities. They should be allowed to expand. I know the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, is very sincere about the message he is delivering, but neither the regulator nor the Government should be allowed to squeeze the credit unions out. If that happens, we will live to regret it.

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