Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill. Anything that helps develop and supports the credit union movement should be welcomed. The credit union movement is unusual among financial institutions internationally, although not unique, in that it offers a not-for-profit model that is democratic and community orientated and has social and community objectives rather than objectives of simply maximising profit, which is the raison d'être of banks.

We are grimly familiar with where the profit imperative that dominates the banking system led us, not least in the aftermath of the crash of 2008 and all the circumstances that led up to it. The rapacious, relentless greed of banks tipped our entire economy over the edge and inflicted great suffering on vast numbers of our people, and there was no reason for that other than that the banking system ran on a for-profit basis. It had no social objectives or imperatives. It was just about making money, whereas the credit union movement is very different and was set up precisely to break the mould of that model of financial institution, to have social and community objectives, to be democratic and to assist people who are not really of interest to big banks.

The sort of for-profit culture that led to the crash of 2008 and the disregard for ordinary customers of financial institutions are not, sadly, a thing of the past despite a lot of talk after the crash of reform of the banking sector. While there was some reform in terms of capital requirements and so on, in reality, the banking system has not changed. Perhaps the most egregious recent example of that was the departure of Ulster Bank, where in the region of 1 million customers were dumped by a bank even though many of them had been loyal customers all their lives and even for generations. They were dumped unceremoniously by a bank that did not care about the loyalty the customers had given to it because banks make commercial decisions and that is it. If that discommoded, as it has done, up to 1 million people, "tough luck" seemed to be the attitude of Ulster Bank.

That is a very different culture from that of credit unions, which are community-based organisations trying to assist ordinary people with their finances and lives. Broadly speaking, therefore, we welcome the Bill. I was more familiar with many of the issues involved when I was a member of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach for a number of years. I was aware of groups such as the Irish League of Credit Unions, ILCU, which is broadly supportive of the Bill, arguing precisely that the Government should do more to support credit unions and to recognise their unique qualities. One thing that always struck me, and I raised this on their behalf when I was a member of the finance committee, was their offer to use their considerable assets to assist with social housing delivery. They have been saying that for many years. I do not know exactly what the progress of it is but-----

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