Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Harkin on bringing this legislation before the House. The credit union movement is at the base of many communities throughout the country. Credit unions do tremendous work. Not only are they trusted, many communities would not be able to survive without them. They have made major commitments and a massive contribution to large parts of rural Ireland, especially when the credit union was there when other facilities were unavailable.

We all acknowledge that during the boom there were a couple of issues with a small number of credit unions, including regulation, but that has been ironed out. As is often the case, overreach has happened. When work is to be done to bring regulation into place, especially when it comes to movements like the credit union, the real pressure is put on them rather than on other places it should be put. That is the problem we have got.

I will give the Minister of State an example. I spoke yesterday evening to a woman who works in a credit union. Her brother-in-law is a small builder with a site he wants to build houses on, but he cannot get the money from anywhere to start the site and get a bridging loan to build those houses. This woman has spoken to people in her credit union who want to lend him the money but the regulations will not allow them to do so. We have this problem throughout the country, with people who want to do stuff the Government is telling them they need to do. The housing crisis is at the centre of that. So much more could be done if we could unlock the potential of the credit union movement and put those finances in place to build houses and homes for people throughout the country. The Minister of State may nod but we have been looking at this issue for years now. We are not getting any action and action is what we require. To kick the can down the road on this for nine months is no good to people who are waiting to get a home, especially when they hear that the credit union has money to put finances in place to provide those homes yet Government legislation and regulation is preventing that from happening. We require action immediately.

We also know the credit union does an awful lot of work for people in providing small loans when they and their families are under pressure at Christmas and other times, which keeps them out of the clutches of moneylenders. We need to support what Deputy Harkin is trying to do in providing for the credit union movement to help people and communities throughout the country.

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