Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to say a few words. It will give the Minister of State an opportunity. The business before this was moving very swiftly and caught us a wee bit off guard. We have finished the scrutiny on Committee Stage and we are dealing with the amendments on Report Stage.

I commend the hard work, sustained over many years by the credit union movement, which has allowed the sector to grow. Credit unions are trusted in all our communities. They are embedded in all our communities with a long and proud traditions on this island. They have provided so much to our communities and our economy and they can do much more. While many credit unions provide savings account products and consumer credit, many are developing capabilities to provide current account and mortgage lending products, with others expanding into SME lending. This is all to be welcomed. The financial services landscape has changed and is undergoing rapid change. Credit unions have the opportunity to increase their footprint in this sector and across our economy. In this changing landscape, credit unions can and must be enabled and strengthened in terms of their footprint and impact on the sector. I commend the perseverance of the credit union movement over a long period to secure reforms that would unlock their potential.

This legislation is the first substantive credit union legislation since 2011. It contains benefit for members, the credit union community and for individual credit unions.

For community-based credit unions, it will be easier for SMEs in the common bond to access credit. Credit unions will be able to partner with one another to offer a wider variety of financial products and will be enabled to modernise their processes through automated membership and loan applications, which I will come to as part of amendment No. 1. For the first time, credit unions will be able to offer services and products to members by sourcing those services or products from another credit union to the established corporate credit unions, which is an important reform and milestone. Credit unions must be recognised, a collaboration must be supported, and member services must be improved. This legislation enables these developments in a number of key respects. Sinn Féin will support it as we did on Second Stage and Committee Stage, and again as we pass the Bill in the House. We will support the legislation and its provisions.

The purpose of amendment No. 1 to section 17 is to allow credit unions to put in place digital and online membership application processes, while still maintaining in-person application services. Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are also about that type of modernisation. As I said, this amendment provides for the automation, both digital and online, of membership applications. However, what is the necessity for this provision? Were credit unions prohibited or discouraged from this modernisation under pre-existing legislation or regulation? We have absolutely no problem in supporting this legislation. I just find it interesting that there is a requirement to change the law to allow for something it would be expected should be allowed anyway. I am just interested in whether credit unions were prohibited or discouraged from this modernisation under pre-existing legislation or regulation.

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