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

Okay. I certainly hope it will be done and I do not know all the details as to why it has not been fully utilised. Perhaps that is a question to put out there, but the Irish League of Credit Unions was clear in making the case a number of years ago, when I was a member of the finance committee, that credit unions wanted to assist in addressing the housing crisis.

The Bill includes a provision to set maximum interest rates for loans. That seems reasonable on the face of it, but I wonder why we do not take similar measures to deal with the rampant profiteering of commercial banks when it comes to interest rates at the moment, where commercial banks in this country are charging roughly 1% more on average in interest than is the case in the rest of Europe. People, particularly at the moment, are being hammered with increased mortgage interest costs, significantly exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis many people are facing, and the Government is not really doing anything about that profiteering by the commercial banks.

Our view is we should nationalise the banking system and run the entire banking system on a not-for-profit basis because banks caused the disaster that was the 2008 crash and have shown, and continue to show in all sorts of ways, that they do not have the best interests of their own customers and society at heart but are really interested purely in profiteering. When I say that, however, I am not suggesting that, therefore, credit unions themselves should become an alternative banking system because I do not think that is what they or their members want, nor do I think it would be a good thing given they have a unique ethos that needs to be maintained. Nevertheless, it is important for them to be a good alternative to the commercial banking system and to be supported to evolve and develop the services they make available to their members or people who want to join the credit union movement.

There are obviously some concerns that we might push them to become like banks. It is important to sound a warning note to say that is not the direction we want them to go. If the changes and the policy framework we are developing around the credit unions are to enhance the services they are able to make available to communities and their members, that is very much to the good but we do not want to jeopardise the unique ethos of the credit unions as community institutions. When you go looking for a loan from people you know in your community, you have a democratic system governing the entire process as opposed to what you get when you go to the banks, where increasingly you do not have anyone to talk to these days. Your application will be sent up to a credit committee somewhere which will make a decision that is not based on any relationship it has with you as a human being and an individual. As a consequence, you will often be treated very unfairly. What is good about the credit unions is precisely that human interaction at the grassroots level between the institution you are going to in search of assistance, in the form of credit, and the real human beings in the institution who know you and understand your story and particular needs.

We support the Bill. I hope the Minister of State will look favourably on the amendments. The ILCU has said that amendments are needed on Committee Stage. I hope the Minister of State will look favourably at them because the ILCU is the expert on all of this. I hope she bears in mind that we need to protect that unique not-for-profit and democratic ethos of the credit unions, while supporting them to evolve and develop what they can offer to their members.

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