Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 11, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:“(4) A proxy shall not be entitled to act as a proxy on behalf of more than one person.”.

This amendment is in connection with the issue of proxy votes. The Minister of State heard my comments earlier about concerns raised by some sections of the credit union movement. Proxy voting is a feature in the election of representatives to different parliaments, as is postal voting. We do not have proxy voting in this jurisdiction but in the north east of our island, proxy voting is facilitated and has been for many years. It is a way to increase participation.

Despite our concerns, what we have done here is to try to deal with the issue. Proxy voting is illegal or unlawful in credit unions and will remain thus until this legislation is passed. I note the Minister of State's comments with regard to credit unions allowing for numerous proxy votes to be held in the hands of one individual. Obviously, casting a vote on behalf of somebody and his or her stated intention - we must assume that would be the case - is one thing but proxy voting goes further than that and many credit unions are concerned about it. This amendment provides that a proxy voter shall not be entitled to act as a proxy on behalf of more than one person.

We are trying to reach a happy medium here. The Minister made reference to the legislation having to return to the Seanad but the Upper House could deal with this in a matter of minutes with a degree of goodwill, as has been the case with legislation that has been sent back from the Seanad to Dáil Éireann. Changes can be approved within minutes so there is a mechanism available if the Minister of State was willing to consider this amendment and I would encourage him to do so.

The 2016 credit union advisory committee published its review of the implementation of the recommendations of the report by the Commission on Credit Unions. The committee noted that proxy voting was a specific concern for stakeholders. Section 11 amends section 82 of the Credit Union Act 1997. It deletes subsection (3) which prohibits members from voting by proxy at a general meeting of the credit union. Section 11 of the Bill before us inserts a new section 82A into the 1997 Act which allows credit unions to provide their members with an option to vote by proxy at general meetings. It also sets out the rules governing such voting by proxy. These include that a proxy would have the same speaking rights as a credit union member and the same rights to vote on a show of hands and on a poll. That is important. At annual general meetings, as we all know from attending our own party conferences, for example, members can be delegated to vote on behalf of the branch they are representing. If members have a free vote, the conversation or debate may have an impact on which way they will cast that vote and may also have an impact on future votes. The issue of speaking rights and the ability to shape the views of people in the room is crucially important. It is important in the context of proxy voters because such voters may not be members of the credit union. The proxy could be somebody who has no right, other than being a proxy voter, to be at an AGM and somebody who has no stake in the credit union movement nationally or locally.

Serious issues have been raised with regard to these proposals, including the fact that proxy voting could lead to conflicts of interest. Furthermore, proxy voters could exercise undue influence on voting, as I mentioned earlier. The possibility of a proxy voter acting as a proxy for several members is what amendment No. 7 tries to address because that could lead to undue influence being exercised by a single individual. The Minister of State argued that proxy voting is being permitted in an attempt to encourage people to attend AGMs but while I acknowledge that other measures in this legislation will do that, proxies cannot do so because proxy voters would be entitled to attend the AGM if they were members of the credit union in their own right. The only way that proxy voting could increase attendance at an AGM is if all of the proxy voters were not members of the credit union and that might not be a good thing. Let us take the example of a credit union AGM at which 20 people turn up. People have the right to attend if they are members of the credit union so the only way the attendance could be increased is if those attending were not members. We do not want to see a situation where there are 30 proxy voters who are not members of the credit union outnumbering the members, even though they are acting on behalf of members. The Minister of State should bear that point in mind. Concerns have been raised and this amendment would address one of those concerns by ensuring that a proxy cannot act on behalf of more than one person. This would avoid the situation in which one person could act as a proxy for several members. It is a reasonable proposal and I ask the Minister of State to show goodwill and take it on. We are supporting this legislation but there is a bit of concern around this issue. The Minister of State said that we can monitor what credit unions do in terms of changing their own rules but we need to be a bit careful here. Limiting proxies to representing one individual will reduce some of the concerns around this issue expressed by credit unions to me and others.

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