Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on her new role. I hope to work closely with her going forward.

The closure of banks and lack of access to traditional banking services in remote areas has left many people without proper access to banking services. In fact, rural banking services in Ireland have been completely hollowed out since the financial crash. In many cases, only for credit unions, many rural residents would have no access to a banking account at all.

The banks in Schull, Bantry and Dunmanway closed in my constituency. The closure of all these branches in rural areas is devastating for a town or village. In some cases, it is the ruination of a town or village. The need for reforms in the credit union sector has been long-awaited and the Government has been slow to react to call for these reforms. We welcome this long overdue progress, however.

We are delighted to have our credit unions in rural areas. The credit union in Bantry even bought the old Bank of Ireland that was closed in recent times, which is great for the town. The personal touch from the staff and management in credit unions is something we used to have in the banks. We are lucky in rural Ireland to have it with the credit unions.

Look what happened last summer with the banks trying to go cashless. Only for myself, Deputies Mattie McGrath and Danny Healy-Rae and the people of Ireland kicking up blue murder, we would have had cashless banks. In the name of God, who came up with the notion of cashless banks? It is a bit like a pub with no pints; pure nonsense.

My colleagues and I have tabled a motion for next Wednesday in the Dáil on this so-called cashless society. We hope every Deputy in this House will back our motion. Broadly speaking, a credit union is a volunteer-run, member-owned organisation where people save and lend to each other at affordable rates of interest. They typically have a not-for-profit status and a strong community-based ethos. A common bond based on factors like living or working within a particular area determines who can join each credit union. All members have an equal input into the running of their credit union regardless of the level of savings they hold. These forms of co-operative financial organisations have unique features that distinguish them from banks. I acknowledge the importance of credit unions to Irish communities and individuals. I thank them for their values, which prioritise people over profits and focus on benefitting members rather than shareholders.

We have approximately ten credit unions in west Cork including those in Schull, Castletownbere, Bantry, Skibbereen, Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Bandon and Kinsale. I can certainly tell the Minister of State that each and every one of those managers works very hard with their communities. I know it for a fact because Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I have sent hundreds, maybe thousands, of people to Northern Ireland for reimbursable operations. That is quite a lot of people. I cannot even advise them to go to the bank to get the €10,000 out for a loan to get their operations. I can certainly tell them to go to the credit union, however, and none of them comes back. They are delighted with the way they are treated. They get a bridging loan for a short period of time and go to Northern Ireland for their procedures. The hip operation might cost €10,000, €12,000, €13,000 or €14,000. The credit union gives people the loan to pay upfront and they then get their money back in six to eight weeks and give it back to the credit union. That is an incredible service. The credit union makes very little money out of that service but it is still willing to work with the local community. It is an outstanding organisation and banking service, as such. Credit unions could actually compete with loans and mortgages but they are being continuously denied that. Why? The bigger bank is wagging the tail and stopping the Government from allowing this to happen.

While every Deputy comes into the House praising the credit unions, praise is not much good if the Government is not going to make a move to allow them to compete in a market they want to compete in but that they have not been allowed to.

I also thank the credit unions for helping communities that have been affected by bank closures and by reduced services during the pandemic. I urge the Minister of State to allow credit unions to open up their businesses to take on mortgages and take on the bigger loans, which they are well capable of doing.

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