Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On this important legislation I agree with Senator Buttimer that it is somewhat regrettable that we are dealing with many things in the context of Covid-19, but that is life. With regard to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, I tend to share some of the concerns expressed by Senator Sherlock in terms of the moving over and the fixed terms. However, some of the people on the council now would have helped chart us out of the previous difficulties and perhaps they are rightly placed. In many ways, we are dealing with a unique set of circumstances so I can see the logic in what is being done here, but I believe that if we are taking a long-term view, two terms is enough. I am on a couple of boards of directors of NGOs and the time limit certainly would not be 12 years, for a very good reason. We must look at best international practice when it comes to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. Senator Kyne made the very valid point that we must consider beefing it up, perhaps with eight to ten members. The money spent on it is exceptionally well spent. The advice it has given to the Government has been very much on the money.

I am aware of the Minister of State's previous role as Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts and I watched him on the television screen on many occasions as he interrogated on behalf of that committee. He would understand and appreciate the importance of a changeover, beefing it up and bringing in more expertise. In our current situation, there is a global challenge to getting our economy back on track. That is only compounded by Brexit. The Fiscal Advisory Council is a key component in that regard.

Regarding the credit union in terms of accessing European money, that is evolving in the right direction and I strongly support it. As regards what has been said about AGMs and the need to hold them virtually, I consider that a housekeeping matter. On the overall point about credit union AGMs, and I have attended many of them, they are social events to some extent but also important community and oversight events. Some AGMs even have music events afterwards. The credit union AGMs are unique and many people would bemoan the fact that they must be held virtually, although the credit unions have the option of not holding them virtually.

In my previous contribution, I did not mention the role I envisage for credit unions in providing mortgages. That is another evolution of the credit union. Where banks and financial institutions are overprescriptive, there is a role for the credit union to take a more community ethos approach, to look at the benefit of a couple with three children supporting the local school, environment, community, GAA and so forth, and perhaps to push the boundaries out. It is a fact that people on low incomes who get mortgages meet their obligations, by and large. The people who go into arrears are usually people with a different socioeconomic profile. When people from a difficult financial background have a financial institution that works with them and helps them through a difficult patch, they usually discharge their loans. That has been proven time and again. That is evidence based internationally, but particularly in Ireland. People who get the opportunity to have their own home are extremely proud of that. We can point to the culture of home ownership in this country as being what drives people to meet their obligations in terms of their mortgages.

This Bill has been initiated in the Seanad and, no doubt, the Dáil will try to tear it apart, after which it will return to this House and we will tidy it up again. The work we are doing here is very important. There is a case for having further debates on joining the credit union with An Post, or at least creating memorandums of understanding, if that is possible, between the credit union and An Post.That is the direction An Post needs to take, not with AIB, Bank of Ireland or any of the big banks but with the credit unions to try to create a community banking culture in this country.