Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Deputies and members of the Opposition for their support of the Credit Union Restructuring Board (Dissolution) Bill 2019. I wish to reinforce some of the comments made by Deputies.

The Credit Union Restructuring Board, ReBo, which was established under Part 3 of the Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012, has completed the performance of its functions and has been operationally wound down since 31 July 2017. I trust that answers Deputy McGrath's comment. The contracts of all ReBo employees expired on or before 31 July 2017 and board members have also resigned from that date. I wish to put on record that my brother served as a member of the board. Legislation is required to dissolve the legal entity and to effect the transfer of all assets and liabilities of ReBo to the Minister for Finance. A caretaker board consisting of two Department officials and the Central Bank nominee will remain in place until dissolution is effected.

In its short lifetime, ReBo has facilitated 82 restructuring projects involving 156 credit unions with assets totalling approximately €6 billion across 24 counties. The Government provided €250 million in the credit union fund specifically for credit union restructuring, with only approximately €11.6 million of this fund used. The lower than anticipated spend on restructuring is essentially due to the fact that the majority of credit unions participating in restructuring financed the projects from within their own resources. Moreover, in certain cases where there was a shortfall financial assistance was provided by the Irish League of Credit Unions using its savings protection scheme.

The Act provides that when the Minister for Finance is satisfied that ReBo has completed the performance of its functions under Part 3, he may by order dissolve ReBo. Prior to dissolving ReBo, section 43(2) requires that the Minister conduct a review of the operation of Part 3 to determine whether ReBo has, in the Minister's opinion, completed the performance of its functions. In accordance with section 43(2), a final review of the operation of Part 3 was carried out in June 2017. Following an in-depth examination by Department officials the review concluded that ReBo had completed the performance of its functions with positive results. On foot of this review, the Minister for Finance decided to proceed with the orderly wind-down of ReBo. Advice from the Office of the Attorney General stated that while the Act provides for the dissolution of ReBo by ministerial order, it does not provide for specified sections of Part 3 to remain in full force and effect notwithstanding the dissolution of ReBo. As a result, for the relevant provisions to continue in full force and effect post-dissolution, the Office of the Attorney General has advised that the safest approach to adopt is to proceed by way of amendment to the Act. Therefore, it was required to bring this Bill forward to formally dissolve ReBo. I thank the Deputies for their co-operation and the co-operation of all parties in the House.

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