Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend him on the steady manner in which he is going about his business and serving the people he is honoured to represent.

The manner in which credit unions have succeeded over the years has been phenomenally Irish. In my home town, Ennistymon, I was born and grew up next door to a credit union. That credit union has provided incredible support to the entire north Clare community, even branching out into towns such as Miltown Malbay and Lisdoonvarna. The credit union sector has supported and funded household extensions and car purchases and it has given people a quality of life that they would not be able to achieve through the banks. I very much welcome the Minister of State’s commitment to bringing the credit union sector into the modern era. I believe that, through his commitment, a commitment is being made by the Government to modernise the credit union movement. The movement has felt strangled and ham-fisted in recent years because it has not been in a position to move with the times. It has not been able to extend its loan book or offer the types of services people now expect from a financial institution. I realise the credit unions have pushed the limit as far as they can to provide such services to their customers, but, really and truly, the Government now needs to allow them to breathe and get them scope and the opportunity to help the next generation of Irish people in the way they helped previous generations. They need to be allowed to get involved in social housing to help those who are trying to secure affordable housing. They have a critical role in this regard. There are billions of euro on reserve in credit unions, and that needs to be released to play a role in tackling the housing crisis.

I agree with the proposal that the credit union movement should be involved in financing the retrofitting of homes. The Government’s recently announced significant advances and improvements in the form of financial supports for those who wish to retrofit their houses could be made even more possible and realistic if the credit union movement were involved. This is because it has partnered with communities and families for decades and funded the education of many thousands of young professionals who are trying to create their own homes. I am referring to proposals that would allow the credit movement to get involved in affordable housing and support retrofitting while being allowed to breathe and operate in the modern era, thus providing the financial services that people now expect from whatever institution they partner with.

I wish the Minister of State all the best with this measure, which is critical. I would like to believe that, by the end of the lifetime of the Government, we will see a credit union movement in this country that is somewhat similar to the public banking model in places such as Germany. The only bank we can rely on is a bank that captures the hearts and minds of the public and essentially becomes a public bank. We do not need to reinvent the wheel and set up public banking; what we need to do is equip the credit union movement essentially to become a de facto public bank.