Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a former employee of the credit union movement, I certainly support any efforts, arrangements, or vehicles whereby the credit union movement is allowed to support businesses. I firmly believe that it can play a very important role in that. To that extent I met one of the members of the Credit Union Managers Association, CUMA, organisation and I have asked the association to put forward its proposals. I will look at them to see how credit unions can support small businesses. They have the expertise, local knowledge and the capital that they can lend, which is very important.

As the Deputy is aware, credit unions are regulated by the Central Bank, but it would be very important to find a vehicle or mechanism for credit unions to support businesses. They form a wonderful organisation and I am satisfied that they have the necessary skill sets to assess and look at providing finance to small businesses, particularly microbusinesses. We have a range of other supports available through the local enterprise office and other agencies.

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