Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Government recognises the distinct and important role that credit unions play in Irish society and the financial sector and is committed, with the Central Bank, to achieving our vision of financially strong, well governed credit unions providing services to current and future members.

I have met with the three main credit union representative bodies and discussed with them issues of concern surrounding the  perceived impact of implementing the regulations.  While I am very aware of  concerns raised by the credit union sector in relation to the proposed regulations, the implementation of regulations is a matter for the Registrar of Credit Unions at the Central Bank, in her role as independent regulator for credit unions. However, I have asked the Registrar of Credit Unions to consider the views of the credit union movement as regards the draft regulations and their implementation and come back to me before I commence the remaining sections of the Credit Union and Co-operation with overseas Regulators Act 2012 on 31 December 2015, in line with the introduction of the regulations. These sections of the 2012 Act, when commenced, will replace, amend or supplement existing sections of the  Credit Union Act 1997.

The purpose of the International Credit Union Regulators' Network (ICURN) review was to assess the performance of the Central Bank's performance of its regulatory functions in relation to credit unions. ICURN made a number of recommendations for refinements.  I am aware of the suggestion made in the ICURN report that a review to evaluate the implementation of the original recommendations of the Commission on Credit Unions could be undertaken by the Credit Union Advisory Committee and am currently considering this suggestion.