Results 61-80 of 3,462 for speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring this Bill back to the Seanad. I will speak broadly on the Bill, as the Seanad wishes, about the Bill’s background as we finish up. The Bill is the culmination of three years of collaborative work by my departmental officials, the credit union sector’s representative bodies, the Central Bank and many devoted credit union staff and...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Group 2 addresses the following issues: the expansion of the definition of a “common bond” to include the common bond of a corporate credit union; the modernisation of the language in the Credit Union Act regarding the objects and purpose of a credit union; the establishment of a corporate credit union and the establishment of its common bond; and provision for credit unions to...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: In total, 51 amendments have been made to the Bill since its publication in December 2022. While the majority of those were technical amendments clarifying and refining the language of the Credit Union Act 1997, two key amendments were to section 35, which allows credit unions to take part in loan participation and loan syndication, and to section 51A, which allows credit unions to refer...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The amendments in this group, namely, amendments Nos. 15 and 17, relate to sections 17 and 67. They will assist credit unions in modernising their membership approval processes.

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The amendments in this group address the issue of changes to the nominations processes and to the processes for small payments on death. These are important changes to the Bill as originally published. Members will be very familiar with the nomination procedure. The two changes here are an increase in the nomination limit from €23,000 to €27,000 and a tightening of the...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: This grouping inserts a new section 51A that allows for the referral of a member to another credit union, regardless of whether the referring credit union provides the service the member is seeking. This is absolutely core to the operation of the new Bill. What we are trying to do is increase the financial services provided to people all over this country, irrespective of where they live,...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The latter is exactly what is proposed. Rather than forcing smaller credit unions to provide mortgages or current accounts in a way that may not suit them, because they may not step into that risk profile, the member of that credit union can and should be referred to another credit union that offers those services and becomes a member of that credit union specifically for the purpose of...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes, the purpose is about referring members rather than changing the common bond.

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: This is about empowering the credit union boards to better manage their own governance to allow them to focus and concentrate on strategy and development rather than detailed operational matters. This grouping addresses the following issues: organisational matters regarding the delivery of notices of meetings, documents, annual accounts and the calling of meetings; a quorum for a general...

Seanad: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (5 Dec 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people involved in this collaborative piece of work: my predecessor, the Minister for State, Deputy Sean Fleming, who introduced the Bill into this House; and my officials on the credit union policy team, Catherine and Miriam in particular, who have done extraordinary work on this. I also thank the representative bodies - the ILCU;...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I will make my opening statement and then also address perhaps a number of issues in response to the letter where we may have different or other information that it may be helpful for the committee for us to clarify. I thank the committee for the invitation to join it here today. I acknowledge Ms McNelis's letter to the committee. We share a common interest, which is ensuring that...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Sorry, could the Chair give more detail on which ones?

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I think so. The purpose of the directive is to make sure there is as competitive a market as possible within the Single Market and within each member state in the Single Market in order to make sure the State is not doing things which will reduce competition or have a market intervention effect and make sure that at the same time as having a competitive market you have insurers who have the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I will check my notes, but I am confident that we have raised thatched buildings along with every other pinch point that we had at the time with every insurance company operating in the market that I have ever met. Some of those matters have since been resolved. This morning, my officials met a new potential entrant in the market. That is commercially sensitive because the company has not...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: We are always very happy to come in here and outline the work we are doing. The purpose of the work is to provide a more stable insurance market for policyholders and to reduce prices. We are very happy to outline that at any stage. In the dialogue that I have with insurers, we are having a pretty straightforward conversation at the moment on motor insurance. It is a direct conversation...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: As regards insurance cover and a solution, the reality is that there are two problems: the accessibility and then the cost, having regard to not only the increased risk of fire but also the scale of damage if there is a fire. I will give the Senator a sense of the issues. My officials met on 16 November representatives from the Treasury in the UK. They confirmed that availability is an...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: As the Deputy has said, this work is part of the broader insurance reform programme through which we have made many changes to make the conditions for insurance better, to drive down premiums and to make the market more stable and predictable. A large part of that is strengthening the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, and making that system really work. The Deputy will recall that,...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: It is the whole of the Government. The Cabinet subcommittee is led by the Tánaiste and was previously led by the now Taoiseach. This really is a whole-of-government commitment. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, and I met with Insurance Ireland just this morning. We are very much working together on this programme. We are determined to see it work and to investigate every...

Committee on Public Petitions: Reform of Insurance for Thatched Heritage Buildings: Discussion (30 Nov 2023)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: On the first piece regarding the group scheme, officials from the Department are always happy to engage. Indeed, they have engaged with representatives of the thatched building group. They will always be available to continue that conversation and to provide guidance and answer questions. Officials are already advocating with different brokers, insurance companies and underwriters in this...