Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State will be aware that I am a big fan of credit unions. In my area in Carlow they do so much good work. I must, however, ask him about the levies on the credit unions, which is a concern. Covid has been hard for people and they are trying to save an extra few euro. The credit union now has funding. It is important that the Minister of State would look at mortgages across all of the credit unions. Some credit unions are able to give out mortgages, but others are not, which is a concern. It is my understanding that 18 months ago the Government changed some of the loan criteria. Originally, in Carlow the credit union had a loan term of 25 years. This has now changed to ten years. A person can borrow up to €100,000 over ten years, not 25 years. I also have concerns about this. Even though we all know the great work done by the credit unions I ask the Minister and the Minister of State to examine these issues. People depend very much on credit unions, which are very much community-based. I ask that these issues be looked at.

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