Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister of State the very best in her new role. It is fantastic to see a female Minister of State in the House.

I welcome this Bill as an effort to respond to the concerns that have been raised for many years by individual credit unions and more widely by the ILCU. All of us here are aware of the enormous social value and the financial contribution that credit unions make to our communities, sporting organisations and voluntary bodies; the list goes on.

I have consistently engaged with credit unions in my constituency, including in Birr. I recently tabled a number of parliamentary questions to the Minister for Finance asking for clarification on the steps that will be taken to enable the credit union movement to grow as a key provider of community banking in the country. I and many others would love to see an expansion of the existing services, and certainly in terms of mortgage options. I would like to see options for younger couples and couples who are seeking mortgages. I would hope that it could be done in a way that the community ethos, which is symbolic of our credit union movement, would be maintained and retained, and that the credit union would not evolve into something else such a bank. There is huge potential for expansion and for a broadening of services.

Will the Minister of State examine the suggestion from the credit union movement to review the policy framework within which credit unions currently operate? I accept that this is now happening through the provisions of this Bill, which passed unchallenged in the Seanad. We are all aware that for many years now there has been a great need to allow for the creation of a legislative and regulatory credit union policy committee and a business model task force. These will enable credit unions to fill the vacuum felt with the exodus of banks such as Ulster Bank. It would also offer the customer and the ordinary household and business more flexibility and more competition around savings and loans. That is certainly something to be welcomed.

I acknowledge, with interest, the remarks made by the former Minister of State, Deputy Sean Fleming, when he was in office. He commented on the statistic that credit unions are lending only 27% - or €5.5 billion - of their €20 billion assets. I agree with him that this figure is far too low and does not adequately address the latent potential that resides within our credit unions. There is huge potential for credit unions to develop plans for lending in the community, such as loans to small businesses, agri-lending, and retrofitting loans, along with mortgages, in a safe and cost-effective way.

I just hope that whatever this transition brings about, it does not result in a loss of the community aspect, and the face-to-face service for which our credit unions are widely known and respected. They must not become another faceless bureaucratic set of financiers, whose sole concern is the bottom line. For example, the credit union in Tullamore, which was founded 60 years ago in 1963, there is an excellent arrears and personal finance programme available, which is provided free of charge to the members. It has been a huge success and very helpful for people.

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