Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether there is an excessive regulatory burden on credit unions in respect of making loans of up to €1,000 to customers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17544/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Registrar of Credit Unions at the Central Bank is the independent regulator for credit unions.  Within her independent regulatory discretion, the Registrar acts to support the prudential soundness of individual credit unions, to maintain sector stability and to protect the savings of credit union members.

My role as Minister for Finance is to ensure that the legal framework for credit unions is appropriate for the effective operation and supervision of credit unions.

I have been informed by the Central Bank that while the important role of credit unions within their communities and, of course, that many members have a demand for credit is fully accepted, from a regulatory perspective it is important that credit unions are prudent in how they lend money, particularly as it is the money of the saving members of credit unions that is ultimately lent to borrowing members. Ensuring that those borrowers can repay is paramount in the protection of those savings. There are also EU Regulations in place in relation to Consumer Credit Agreements, the scope of which includes credit agreements where the loan amounts are between €200 and €75,000.  Part 2 of these regulations focuses on the obligations to assess creditworthiness of consumers based on information provided in support of a loan. The Central Bank further informs me that it expects credit unions to apply prudent lending standards to the granting of all new loans or top-ups of existing loans and to have systems in place to ensure that such applications are fully assessed to confirm the member's creditworthiness.

The safety of members' savings and the security of the credit union sector as a whole are priorities for this Government and I have, on a number of occasions, highlighted the Governments' recognition of the important role of credit unions as a volunteer co-operative movement in this country and also the importance of getting lending going in the economy. However, the issue of lending needs to be constructively considered in order to ensure a viable credit union sector into the future.