John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the Leader, which I want to explain. Some 98% or 99% of credit unions were fully compliant during the Celtic tiger era.

They have €10 billion in deposits.

Approximately ten credit unions in this country lost the run of themselves. We need a credit union movement which provides full banking services. We should also allow credit unions to lend to small businesses because the banks are not lending to them. The banks will lend to big farmers because they know they can go after them and they will get their money back. We need to lift the restrictions on the amount of money credit unions can lend to small businesses. Could we have a cross-party debate on this issue in the autumn? We might solve the problem.