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

The resistance came from the main representative bodies in the credit unions at the time, which did not want to touch the common bond because they felt it was established in the first place for very good reasons and they did not want to move on that. I have met all the representative bodies in the credit unions a few times in the past year and we now have movement from all the main credit union organisations on some refinement of the common bond boundaries and improvements to share and syndicate loans between different credit unions. We are not going to unravel the entire structure of the common bond. There will be improvements to the common bond structure, and what I will be proposing is substantially agreed by all the bodies at this time. I will send them a formal document early in the new year. That may require legislation and that will be progressed as soon as we get approval. I will ask the sector to respond promptly when we issue the proposals because we have covered this ground entirely. I gave those organisations a commitment that I will come back to them with one final draft before we publish it. I will seek their input early in the new year.

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