Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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57. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to dissolve the Credit Union Restructuring Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42050/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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58. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans for the estimated €230 million that will be available to the Exchequer on the dissolution of the Credit Union Restructuring Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42051/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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62. To ask the Minister for Finance the drawdown to date by the Credit Union Restructuring Board; its estimated final drawdown, and the remaining funds available to it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42136/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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63. To ask the Minister for Finance the funding to date for the Credit Union Restructuring Board; the source of this funding, with each source's contribution specified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42137/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 57, 58, 62 and 63 together.

Section 57 of the Credit Union and Co-Operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012 (2012 Act) provides for the establishment of the Credit Union Fund as a source of funding for restructuring and to meet the expenses of the Credit Union Restructuring Board (ReBo) in carrying out its functions under the 2012 Act. In December 2012, I contributed €250 million to the Credit Union Fund for the purpose of restructuring the credit union sector. The placing of money in the Fund had no impact on the general Government deficit as it is only when this money is spent that it impacts the deficit. This funding has always been ring-fenced specifically to provide financial support for restructuring credit unions.

To date, ReBo has drawn down €6.38 million from the Credit Union Fund which can be broken down as follows:

- €3.06 million has been used to fund the operational costs of ReBo;

- €2.84 million has been used to provide credit unions with financial assistance incentives; and

- €0.48 million as yet unused.

ReBo conducted a detailed analysis of likely funding requirements and it estimates that its net use of the Credit Union Fund will amount to no more than circa €20 million.

Section 43 of the 2012 Act provides that,when I am satisfied that ReBo has completed the performance of its functions I can by order dissolve ReBo. However, before dissolving ReBo, section 43(2) requires that I must conduct a review of the operation of Part 3 of the 2012 Act no later than 1 January 2016, to determine whether or not ReBo has, in my opinion, completed the performance of its functions. This review was carried out and published in October 2015 and has assisted me in making an informed decision in relation to the restructuring process and the duration of ReBo.

Following the section 43 review, which found that credit union engagement with ReBo has continued to increase in recent months, I announced that credit unions have until 31 March 2016 to receive a letter of offer from ReBo following the submission of a high level restructuring business case to ReBo. ReBo will then be in a position to complete all restructuring projects in a methodical manner during 2016. A further such review will be carried out in line with section 43(2)(b) before October 2016.

The €250m contributed to the Credit Union Fund was provided specifically to support credit unions undergoing restructuring within ReBo's time-bound restructuring programme. With ReBo's net use of the Credit Union Funded estimated to be no more than €20 million, this will in due course enable the return of approximately €230m to the Exchequer. While it was envisaged that significant funding would be required for credit union restructuring, it is commendable that the credit union movement itself has provided funding from within its own resources, thus minimising the requirement for drawing on Exchequer funding.