Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Councillor Pearse McGeough and I met representatives of Connect Credit Union in Blackrock this morning regarding the planned closure of the Kilsaran and Clogherhead branches on 30 August. This is not something we want to see. I spoke to the representatives and our biggest concern was about the vulnerable clients and that thing that makes the credit union different. We need to make sure that full supports are being provided and I have been told that they will be in this case. It is an issue which needs to be revisited. We all know the issue in relation to rural Ireland and the loss of services. The credit union brought up the report by the International Credit Union Regulators Network, ICURN, - the report of the auditor of auditors - and the fact that consideration was given to changing the threshold which at present means that credit unions can only have 10% of mortgages, business loans and agri-loans. Credit unions across the board will state that they need the threshold to be increased in order that they can do more businesses and provide services to people. That is vital, particularly when we consider the housing crisis.

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