Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. This is important legislation and I am pleased to speak on it as a former member of the board of supervisors of a credit union in Bishopstown. The credit union movement has gone through gargantuan change in the past decade, some of which I would question in terms of its progress or lack thereof. I listened to Senator Mullen speaking and I concur completely with some of his remarks. The fundamental aspect for many of us and for those in communities is that the credit union movement is still regarded as the people's bank, particularly in respect of their shares and personal savings.The report of the Commission on Credit Unions has been published and this summer, the Irish League of Credit Unions called for more reform. I hope that as part of future debate, we will have a real debate on the future of our credit union movement. It has looked after an gnáthdhuine, the ordinary person, in our communities so well since its foundation. Senator Kyne is right to commemorate and remember the late John Hume, who died this summer.

The Irish League of Credit Unions reports that it is worried about the upsurge in savings, which is a good thing on one level, then leads to people not taking up lending, which is a source of revenue for the credit unions. We all received the Irish League of Credit Union's 2020 Vision document before the election, and on reading it one can see that some of the policy priorities are quite sensible and should be debated in this House, because while we welcome the Bill today, we need to listen to the Irish League of Credit Unions. Senator Gavan or Senator Mullen raised the issue of the Central Bank and other regulators. I do not question the motivation of these institutions but they do not necessarily have a monopoly on wisdom. The credit union movement is one to which we must listen.

I welcome the reduction in the two levies paid by credit unions, namely, the credit union institution resolution levy and the credit union stabilisation levy, in the Finance Bill 2020, which we will be debating later. It is very important that that has been done. I think we all agree credit unions exist to serve their members within the community. That leads me to my final point, which I have made already and concerns the lack of demand for loans, which is a challenge that the credit union movement is now facing. I hope that can be addressed and we can look at that issue. The other point relates to the capital reserve structure requirement of the credit unions, and I ask the Minister of State to address that in his remarks.

I welcome the Bill. From the Minister of State's time as a spokesperson on public expenditure and reform and while on the Committee of Public Accounts and the finance committee, I know he is very pro-credit union and I look forward to him working with us all who are pro-credit union to bring further change. However, I make the point that we should all listen to and co-ordinate with the credit union movement.