Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I doubt if I will need eight minutes, as my colleague has covered most of the issues. I was, however, involved on the board of a credit union. In recent years there seems to have been an effort to force amalgamations, downsize the number of credit unions and almost restrict them to the point where they cannot operate. The report provides a way forward and is something at which we need to look. The Minister of State will know from his own local area that credit unions are the heart and soul of communities. Many people in their first job took out their loan for a car through their credit union. They got their start through their credit union. However, credit unions have moved on. Some of them are still small local entities that look after the needs of local people, but some of them are capable of doing an awful lot more. It is about providing them with the wherewithal to expand.

I am thinking, in particular, of the credit unions of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, TUI, in which I was involved, the Association of Secondary School Teachers of Ireland, ASTI, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, INTO. All of these credit unions deal with professionals employed within a sector with guaranteed public jobs. There is no reason they should not be involved in mortgage provision, for example. That is something we need to look into. We need to allow these credit unions to expand to allow young professionals to get mortgages. The Minister of State knows this because he has his hand on the pulse and a teachers' conference wa held in Wexford this year. Young teachers, nurses and gardaí are not able to get mortgages based on their salary. What my colleague, Senator Gerry Horkan, spoke about - shared ownership over a period of time - is something the credit unions could do. They could provide for direct deductions at source. We need to look at and listen to those credit unions that are now highly professionalised.A lot of work has been done by the Department of Finance and the Central Bank to bring professionalism to the credit union movement. We now need to allow it to grow. I am particularly interested in the credit union movement investing in social housing, where possible. I am also interested in the micro-finance issue because indigenous industry is what will keep this country going. While it is great to have Google, eBay and so on the small start-up by one person, which expands to become an employer of ten or 15 people is also important, because ten people working in 50 companies is a lot of people working. The SME sector can match any multinational. Micro-finance will be important in this regard.

I do not propose to go through the recommendations as they have been already outlined by my colleague, Senator Horkan. Coming from a rural community the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, will be aware of the impact a good credit union can have on its community. It can help a community to grow and, thus, it will also grow. I am not suggesting that we should take the foot off the pedal with respect to keeping an eye on what is going on because that is vital if the credit unions are not to get into trouble. The credit union movement came out of the economic crash pretty good in comparison with the high street banks. There were a couple of disaster stories but overall credit unions provided the stability that people needed. The fact that this is all done on the backs of people volunteering needs to encouraged and assisted in every way possible. I believe that the Minister of State is dedicated and committed to this sector.