Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for proposing this amendment. It is good to tease out the issue. The decision to allow proxy voting is at the discretion of individual credit unions. If a credit union provides for proxy voting, the legislation sets the deadline for depositing an instrument of proxy. This deadline balances the needs of the member, who is an individual, and of the credit union, which has the resources. It would be an unfair burden and restrictive on credit union members if the deadline was further out from the AGM, giving them less time to organise an appropriate proxy. It should be remembered that when people get notices, they put them aside, think about them and come back to them. It would not be appropriate for the last date to get in an instrument of proxy to be a full week before the AGM. Many people only make up their minds as to whether to go to an AGM over the course of the week. If this amendment is passed, it will be too late to send a proxy if somebody has not made up his or her mind not to attend a week before the AGM.

These questions only arise if a credit union decides to allow proxies in the first place. It all comes back to that. If a credit union believes the 48-hour period would result in an administrative or technological burden and that it would be difficult to process instruments of proxy submitted three days in advance, it can choose not to go there at all. I am thinking of the members. What is at the core of most of what is before us today is a desire to facilitate participation at AGMs. Telling people that they cannot arrange a proxy if they do not have their mind made up more than a week before the AGM moves the balance too far towards making members make their minds up very early in the process after receiving the financial accounts and reports to be considered at that AGM. This measure gives members more flexibility and allows them to make up their minds three or four days in advance of the meeting.

I acknowledge that the credit union's resources might be put under pressure by the need to have the technology in place to allow for this but the balance of resources is heavily weighted in favour of the credit union rather than the individual member. If I am asked to find the balance between encouraging participation at AGMs and acknowledging the administrative burden involved in processing applications for proxy votes, I prefer to keep the balance in favour of facilitating the member up to as late a point as is practicable, that is, two full days. This allows members to make up their minds up to that point. The credit unions will encourage people to get such applications in early, that is to say seven, six, five, four or three days in advance, and not to leave it until the last day. In some cases, the processing of these applications might put an administrative burden on the credit union but I believe technology will ultimately solve that problem. I prefer to give members the greatest opportunity possible to participate either in person or by proxy. Requiring that instruments of proxy be submitted seven days beforehand, and forcing members to make up their minds so far out from an AGM, may have an adverse effect on people's participation.

I understand the point behind the amendment. I hope the Deputy will see that there is a balance between these two issues. Yes, we are putting an extra burden on the credit union, but only to facilitate the members and to give them as much time as possible before the AGM to make up their minds. On that basis, I will not accept this particular amendment, although it was worth highlighting some of the issues that may be involved should credit unions go down the road of discussing the issue of proxy votes.

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