Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for taking this Topical Issue. I received a reply from him in the past hour. This week, my office has been inundated with phone calls regarding credit unions and the regulations governing them. Several credit unions across the country need to hold annual general meetings in order to pay out dividends and interest rebates to their members. The members of those credit unions have included the payments in their Christmas budgets. They know that credit unions charge a fractionally higher interest rate but that at the end of the year there will be a rebate. That rebate is very important to the members.

Clonmel Credit Union in my constituency of Tipperary is one such institution. It has a large membership and is a very strong credit union. Councillors Siobhán Ambrose and Micheál Anglim brought this issue to my attention this week. Clonmel Credit Union has performed exceptionally well even in this difficult year. It is in a position to pay out some €1.8 million in dividends and tax rebates to its members. That is a sizeable sum of money, particularly at the time of year when families and individuals need it most. It has been an exceptionally challenging year. Members were relying on this money to pay bills, buy grocery shopping for Christmas and cover the other additional costs of Christmas. The credit union traditionally pays out the money in the first week of December. As a result of certain regulations and rules preventing credit unions from holding virtual AGMs, this much-needed payout is being prevented.

The credit union needs to approve these dividends and interest rebates at the AGM or they cannot go ahead. I am aware that other organisations, including a farming organisation with 20,000 members, are holding their AGMs on Zoom. It is hard to understand why there are not regulations in place to enable credit unions to hold a virtual AGM.

I wrote to the Minister of State about this issue yesterday and, in fairness, I have received a reply from him. I ask that he and his Department intervene to ensure, as quickly as possible, that regulations are amended to allow virtual AGMs for credit unions to go ahead. We knew that the level 5 Covid restrictions would cause issues in this regard. I see from his reply that the Minister of State is working on the issue. Is there any way, in the three weeks before Christmas, to give an amnesty to credit unions to allow them to hold their AGMs? The amending legislation has gone through the Seanad and there is a very short timeframe to get it passed in this House. Getting this money in January or February will not have the same beneficial effect for credit union members. Traditionally, they knew this cheque would be coming through the letter boxes after the first weekend in December and they could use it to cater for Santa Claus or whatever else. Members knew the money was coming. I have had numerous telephone calls from people expressing huge disappointment that it will not be coming this year.

This issue will affect members of other credit unions. In the case of Thurles credit union, for example, its AGM is also delayed. It does not have the same steadfast tradition as Clonmel in this regard but it would normally pay a dividend to members. Clonmel has a tradition down through the years, as I said, where it always pays a very significant dividend to members. It has a huge membership and the addition of €1.8 million into a provincial town in this particular year is not be dismissed lightly. I know the Minister is working on the legislation but is there any possibility of allowing virtual AGMs to go ahead before Christmas to enable credit union members to avail of dividends and rebates?

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