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

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of credit unions and the great role they have in society.

Recent opinion polls have shown them to be the most trusted brand consistently over recent years. The Central Bank issued a report yesterday about the challenges facing credit unions so I will briefly bring people up to date on that. Credit unions' financial situation improved in the past year. Of the 210 credit unions in the country, all but nine were in surplus in the past 12 months, which is positive and is much improved from the previous year. The report pointed out that relative to the amount credit unions are saving, their loans are only 27%. That is the issue with growing their loans. There are many schemes for businesses and so on but they are still concentrating on personal loans, which have been their bread and butter over the years. They have reduced some of their deposits with caps introduced by individual credit unions, and that has also prevented the situation deteriorating.

On the matter of common bonds, section 6 of the Credit Union Act 1997 sets out the requirements in relation to the common bond. The credit union advisory committee, CUAC, in its review of the implementation of the recommendations in the Commission on Credit Unions report in 2016, recommended that the common bond be subject to detailed consideration in consultation with stakeholders. The credit union advisory committee is a group established by the Minister to advise him or her on credit union issues. That matter is currently being examined, and when I get the opportunity in a few moments, I will tell the Deputy about the review progress. I expect the Government to approve significant proposals regarding credit unions early in the new year.

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