Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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94. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is aware that credit unions are no longer issuing debit cards to customers who reside in the North on the grounds that they are no longer residents of the European Economic Area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21540/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. As I acknowledged to your colleague Deputy Carthy last week, credit unions in Ireland are regulated and supervised under the Credit Union Act, 1997 (the 1997 Act) and regulations issued by the Central Bank, which set out the framework for the registration, regulation and operation of credit unions including detailed governance and prudential requirements.

Credit union current accounts

The 1997 Act and the Credit Union Act 1997 (Regulatory Requirements) Regulations 2016 (the 2016 Regulations) set out the services that credit unions may provide to their members.

Until very recently, credit unions providing current account services have provided these under one of two separate brands – ‘MYCU’ and ‘Current Account from your Credit Union’ - each supported by different service providers. Those credit unions who previously operated under the ‘MYCU’ brand have now moved to the ‘Current Account from your Credit Union’ brand and supporting service providers, including a new card issuer.

The new card issuer is not authorised to issue cards to members of the credit unions who are working in the State but resident in Northern Ireland. This specific matter is relevant to a small number of credit unions and credit union members and is not related to debit cards issued by banks.

It is my understanding that impacted customers have been notified by their credit unions, who have advised them to seek an alternative debit card solution as soon as possible.

More generally, in respect of the provision by EEA financial services firms, including card issuers, of services in the UK, a temporary permissions regime (TPR) was established in the UK by the UK Government to enable relevant EEA firms and funds who were using the passporting regime to transition to the UK full regulatory regime post Brexit.

The TPR will end on 31 December 2023; however relevant firms that wanted to apply for full authorisation in the UK were required to do so by 31 December 2022.