Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will take about six minutes and then defer to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on her new role and wish her the best in it. I should state that I have a vested interest in this. I am a member of Newmarket Credit Union in County Cork. I pay tribute to Dorothy and her team for the excellent work they do. We are well-served by credit unions in Kanturk, Rathmore and Mallow, which has branches in Millstreet and Charleville. Dedicated people work behind the counters there. The credit union has a voluntary board which reaches out to the community. It is important that we acknowledge the volunteers who work in the credit union movement and the work they do. It is a community initiative. They see the good that is being done. They are volunteers who we should encourage because we have seen that volunteerism is pulling back in society and it is important that we acknowledge it.

I come from not too far from the village of Ballydesmond, which is the home of Nora Herlihy, who founded the credit union movement long ago. What the credit unions have done for families and communities over the decades is immeasurable. Many people have benefited and gone through college. Many have been able to access credit, whether for a start-up or their first car. Whatever it was, they were able to access the credit unions. That was how it was at the start. The credit unions have since moved to having substantial assets and lending, with 28% or 29% of their total assets now loaned in a meaningful way. There is much money in deposits. We have seen banks disappear from communities, leaving them with one financial institution, which is the credit union. By and large, it has picked up the slack, whether that is for the farming community, personal loans or some small and medium business loans. The credit unions have picked up the slack and thank God for them.

It is now time for us to re-evaluate what a massive contribution the credit unions have made to Irish society and how we go forward and ensure that the credit union movement expands as society and its demands expand. We also need to ensure the credit union movement reflects the challenges faced in people's lived experience nowadays. Going back to 2008 and 2009 when the crash happened and all the regulations came from it, the credit unions were, by and large, well protected. They had good lending practices. They now have the same level of regulation and the same amount of corporate governance to go through. It is time for us to look at it to see if there is a way of having accountability for the credit union movement while also easing the burden of regulations on it. We talk about voluntary boards, training and so on, but it is something we should look at. We should also look at how we expand the services into mortgages, ATMs and, while some credit unions have been able to do it, credit transfers and so on. That needs to be looked at.

Fundamentally, we have to accept the massive positive contribution that credit unions have made in urban and rural Ireland. Some of the bodies that came together to form credit unions have provided funding to people at various difficult junctures in their lives. How do we ensure, for the next half century, that those credit unions will still be there, as strong in their communities as they are today, and able to cater for the needs of people who are at crisis points? We are going to try to keep families and communities away from moneylenders, so the option of last resort is not the moneylender but the credit union.

The challenge for us is to accept the good that has been done and look at how we legislate to ensure people continue to have this service. They have a trusted brand in their communities. Credit unions are of the communities and want what is best for their communities. That cannot be measured. How do we ensure those same bodies continue to do that for the next generation? Therein lies the challenge. Some people will argue for removing some of the regulations. I do not think that discussion can be had because regulation has to exist and we saw what the absence of regulation led to in the past. We also have to make it easier and simpler for credit unions to comply with the regulations. Some 28% or 29% of their funds are loaned out. Can the other 70% be used in a meaningful way to meet the challenges faced by society? I wish the Minister of State the best of luck in her role. In the legislation she is passing and in any interaction she has with credit unions, I ask her to ensure they are as strong in 50 years as they are today.

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