Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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200. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider deferring the commencement of the remaining sections of the Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012 until such time as the serious concerns of credit unions and their members are sufficiently considered by the Central Bank of Ireland, and duly factored into any new regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30093/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012 was signed into law by the President of Ireland on 19 December 2012. Following enactment, different parts of the 2012 Act have been commenced in tranches at different times. This approach was taken, as the Department is cognisant of the fact that credit unions needed time to implement all aspects of the 2012 Act and so has informed the timeline for implementation of the various measures on different dates.

The remaining sections of the 2012 Act, when commenced, will replace, amend or supplement existing sections of the 1997 Act.

The introduction of the new sections into the 1997 Act by the 2012 Act will, in effect, remove some of the requirements (including limits) that currently exist in certain sections and will provide regulation making powers to the Central Bank. The new sections will also contain a number of new requirements. 

On 27 November 2014 the Central Bank issued a consultation paper entitled Consultation on Regulations for Credit Union on commencement of the remaining sections of the 2012 Act - CP88. The Central Bank provided a 3 month consultation period and the closing date for submissions was 27 February 2015.

Consultation Paper, CP88 sets out that following the consultation and consideration of submissions received, the remaining sections of the 2012 Act and final regulations would be commenced at the end of 2015. The Central Bank has indicated that it will be communicating with the credit union sector on the regulations. Details of this will be provided in the feedback statement to be published with the regulations.