Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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53. To ask the Minister for Finance the effect, in fiscal terms, of reinvesting the remaining funds in the credit union restructuring board fund into the credit union sector on the fiscal space; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2563/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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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.

In 2015, 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.

The €250 million 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 for this purpose, thus minimising the requirement for drawing on Exchequer funding.